/SIMON DE MONTFORT, 
 
 EAEL OF LEICESTER, 
 THE CREATOR OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 
 
 BY 
 
 EEINHOLD PATJLI. 
 
 TRANSLATED BY UNA M. GOODWIN. 
 
 JFITE INTROB^^^^^Tt^^^IET MARTIXEAU. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 TEUBNIEE & CO., LUDGATE HILL. 
 
 1876. 
 
 \_All Highfs Seserced.] 
 

 PKIITTED BT TATLOK AND ~tO., 
 LITTLE QDEEN bTHEET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS. 
 
 3o ^<^y 
 
 '% 
 
INTEODUCTION 
 
 BY 
 
 HAERIET MARTINEAU. 
 
 Dr. PauFs observation at the opening of tlie Preface 
 of his work, — that every great movement in human 
 Society is embodied and illustrated in the character of 
 one pre-eminent man_, — will hardly be objected to by 
 any order of readers ; but it probably approves itself 
 most warmly to those who are the oldest, as well as 
 the most worthy. The relish of the study of History 
 follows the same law in the case, in regard to age, of 
 a people and an individual. In the youthful days of 
 a nation the Historical interest is implicated in the 
 suspense and romance of war and conquest, in the 
 poetry of adventure, and the triumph or grief of mighty 
 revolutions of fortune. As a community grows older 
 in experience, the character of its interest in History 
 changes essentially. Institutions and Laws become 
 more attractive than invasions and battles ; a stage in 
 civilisation is seen to be more valuable than an exten- 
 sion of territory ; and the general mind opens to a 
 sense of the qualities necessary to the acquisition of 
 
 a 2 
 
iv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the higher good. Just in the same way does the 
 interest in the study of History change its ground 
 with lapse of time. The child asks only for fairy 
 tales ; the school-boy devours narratives of adventure 
 and conquest; and his attraction to any consideration 
 of character lies in its daring firsts — then in its magna- 
 nimity^ — and^ when the conceptions coalesce^ — its 
 heroism. 
 
 These conceptions, however, are exhaustible; and 
 a whole realm of wisdom lies ready to be entered upon 
 when the community on the one hand, and the indivi- 
 dual student on the other, becomes qualified by ex- 
 perience and contemplation to appreciate acquisitions 
 from the richer field. The conception and growth 
 of good institutions and laws become interesting to 
 Society ; and in due time Society inquires, first as a 
 matter of course, and at last with more or less eager- 
 ness, about the origin of political amelioration, and 
 the head, heart, and hands by which it was wrought. 
 
 At the corresponding age attained by the individual 
 student, he finds his best road to a knowledge of 
 History in Biography, if it be but attainable. It is 
 not merely that human character is always and every- 
 where supremely interesting to meditative men: it is 
 that in a man's life we see his mind; and that the 
 more we see of his life the better we understand his 
 mind, and can interpret his ideas, designs, and acts. 
 Thus we see the grey-haired student lay eager hands 
 on the smallest fragment of newly- discovered records 
 which can disclose any feature in the character or 
 
INTRODUOTION. v 
 
 conduct of political philosopher or statesman who may 
 have lent a hand to the formation or working of the 
 constitution of his own or another country. 
 
 It is easily said that Political Biography naturally 
 combines two different orders of interest, — that of 
 narrative — the unfolding of a story ; — and that of in- 
 dividual experience and portraiture of character: this is 
 true enough ; but the point before us regards the 
 interest and efficacy of the study of History itself, by 
 the road of Biography. If evidence of this fact had 
 been necessary of late years it would have been found 
 in the gratitude with which our own country and 
 people, and some abroad, have received the inestimable 
 gift conferred by the Master of the Rolls in rendering 
 accessible to us documents illustrative in all manner of 
 ways of the reigns of our sovereigns for successive 
 centuries. 
 
 Amidst the wealth of that disclosure, one of the 
 most prominent gifts is that which Dr. Pauli avows to 
 have been his immediate stimulus to the production 
 of his Life of Simon de Montfort. So noble a boon is 
 fittingly acknowledged by the frank gratitude of the 
 biographer ; but we, his readers, owe a double debt. 
 The new materials are one boon ; but many of us 
 would have known little of them if the Historian had 
 not presented to us the great period following the 
 event of Runnymede a^ the influences of that period 
 were reflected in the life of its most remarkable man. 
 
 Till this late extension of our knowledge we were 
 misled, or uninformed, on many points of story and 
 
vi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of individual and social character. We can now rest 
 in a cheering certainty of the most essential facts that 
 can concern a community. It is no small matter that 
 one of the greatest characters in our history is at length 
 canonized by the authority of History^ — that he is 
 known now as no self-seeking rebel, no revolutionary 
 mischief-maker, — that he had clear aims and steadfast 
 purposes, — that, while of foreign birth and connection, 
 he was so thoroughly English by all the highest sorts 
 of qualification, that England will remember while the 
 world lasts that to him she owes her first place in the 
 history of nations as governed by true Kepresentation 
 in P^S^jnent. As a statesman he distinguished him- 
 self by the two conceptions on which his political 
 action was based, — the extension of political function 
 to the Commons, and the principle of Representation. 
 Instead of mere assemblage of summoned classes on 
 the one hand, and the democratic method of delegation 
 on the other, he proposed and instituted Repeesenta- 
 TioN, — as it must in due time be exemplified wherever 
 Liberty is understood and enjoyed. In that institution 
 of his lies the proof of his appreciation of the people ; 
 and in their adoration of him lies the evidence of his 
 exemption from all those taints of foreign breeding 
 which made his French countrymen so odious to men 
 of all orders who had seen the strange spectacle of that 
 day and generation. They had seen confirmations of 
 Magna Charta succeed each other after ever-renewed 
 breaches of faith on the part of the King and his 
 foreign and courtly factions, and amidst the distrust. 
 
INTROD VCTION. vii 
 
 the wrath, the turmoil under which society was heav- 
 ing to and fro, one element ofopinion and will remained 
 stable, — the popular trust in the adviser of self- 
 government, — " St. Simon the Righteous.'^ 
 
 The people appreciated him as far as their qualifica- 
 tions enabled them, in this direction or in that. There 
 were some, however few, who saw in him scholarship 
 as distinctive as his active capacities, — statesmanship 
 as thoroughly characteristic as his military eminence, — 
 domestic affections as genial as his devotedness to the 
 welfare of his country and his kind. Yet his great name 
 was subject to eclipse, like that of many another leader 
 of men. He was represented to successive generations 
 as of the vulgar order of revolutionary agitator and 
 ambitious rebel. 
 
 It seems to have been by the sort of anticipation 
 which prepares Society for some new burst of historical 
 light that since the beginning of our century a growing 
 interest in Simon de Montfort has been observable, 
 and a more lively curiosity in regard to his character 
 and his story. 
 
 Now, at last, his position in History is so ascertained 
 and established as to secure his name and fame from 
 neglect or perversion. The records of his story are 
 given into the hands of the public : Dr. Pauli has 
 derived from them a thoroughly acceptable portrait of 
 the man and his time : and those who do not read 
 German may now by this translation study the institu- 
 tion of Representative Government in England in the 
 interesting form of Political Biography. 
 
viii INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 Under the remarkable development of Historical 
 study at present^ as tlie education of both sexes receives 
 extension^ this work will surely be welcomed for any 
 one of its several bearings ; and among them all there 
 will scarcely be room left for any generation henceforth 
 to ask, as our grandfathers too often did — '^ Was 
 Simon de Montfort a great and good man ? '^ 
 
 H. M. 
 
 May, 1876. 
 
 [The original of Simon de Montfort was published 
 nearly ten years ago, and, through the kindness of Dr. 
 Pauli, the translation may be looked upon as a new 
 edition. He has himself revised it throughout, intro- 
 ducing occasional changes in the text, and adding 
 fresh references, chiefly to the works of Prof. Stubbs 
 and new editions of the Chronicles. — Translator.'] 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduction by Haesiet Martineau 
 Preface 
 
 PAGE 
 
 iii 
 xiii 
 
 Introduction 
 
 Tlie Norman Monarchy 
 
 John Lackland 
 
 Magna Charta 
 
 The Compromise after the Civil War . 
 
 Favourable and Adverse Tendencies under Henry III. 
 
 THAP. 
 
 I. The House or Montfort until 1239 
 Origin of the Race 
 The Earldom of Leicester 
 Simon de Montfort IV. 
 His relation to England 
 His son Simon in England, 1231 . 
 Marries the King's sister, 1238 
 The Emperor Frederick 11. , his brother- 
 
 in-law 
 
 1 
 1 
 3 
 6 
 11 
 13 
 
 19 
 19 
 21 
 22 
 26 
 30 
 33 
 
 II. Earl Simon or Leicester Alternately in Favour and 
 
 Disfavour 38 
 
 First rupture in 1239 . . . . 38 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PA.OB 
 
 The Bishop of Lincohi and the Franciscans . . .41 
 
 Crusade to Palestine, 1240 44 
 
 Simon accompanies the King to Guienne, 1242 . . 48 
 Oppression of England by the Pope and King . .51 
 Simon's retired life without participation in politics . 53 
 He is raised to the Governorship of Guienne, 1248 . 54 
 The rebellious Gascons and the intrigues at Court . 56 
 Simon in his need counselled by the Franciscans . . 60 
 Investigation and proceedings against him, 1252 . . 65 
 
 Fresh breach with the King 67 
 
 The Earl in Gascony himself asserts his rights . .71 
 Henry III. at Bordeaux appeals to him for help, 1253 . 72 
 Successful exertions of his clerical friends . . .73 
 
 III. The Earl Throws Himself into the Political Op- 
 position 76 
 
 Henry III, in Bordeaux and Paris ; the Sicilian crown 76 
 The King and Earl upon tolerably friendly terms . . 79 
 The distressed condition of England . . . .81 
 Eichard of Cornwall, King of the Romans . . .85 
 Victory of the estates at Westminster, 1258 . . .88 
 
 Parliament at Oxford in June 90 
 
 The Provisions of Oxford 93 
 
 Expulsion of the Aliens 95 
 
 The government of the Barons 96 
 
 The first opposition on the part of the Knighthood . 100 
 Peace with France negotiated by Simon, 1259 . . 104 
 King and Earl in England and France, 1260 . . 106 
 
 Restoration of the monarchy, 1261 .... 109 
 King and Earl appeal to the mediation of France, 1262 . 113 
 Henry himself again at the French Court . '. . 116 
 Louis IX. declines the mediation, 1263 .... 118 
 
 IV. The Civil War and Montfort's Protectorate . . 120 
 Organs of popular opinion 120 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Simon at the head of the Knighthood . 
 
 March to London 
 
 The King forced to recognise the Provisions 
 
 Takes up arms in vain 
 
 Louis IX. gives an arbitrement in the King's favoui" 
 
 Amiens, January 23, 1264 .... 
 
 Concurrence of the Pope 
 
 Outbreak of the Civil War; Henry III. in Oxford 
 
 Simon in Northampton . . , . . 
 London on the side of Simon .... 
 
 Battle of Lewes, May 14 
 
 King and realm in the power of the victors . 
 
 Administration of the Earl 
 
 Conceptions of a constitutional compact 
 
 V. Simon's Greatest Power and his Fall 
 
 Hostile measures abroad 
 
 The Legate, who is refused admission into the country 
 
 excommunicates the rebels . . . . , 
 Simon summons the nobility, clergy, knights, and 
 
 citizens to Parliament, January 20, 1265 . 
 Negotiations for the release of Prince Edward . 
 Measures for consolidating the arbitrary power . 
 Desertion of the Earl of Gloucester 
 Return of the exiles and escape of the Prince 
 Outbreak of hostilities on the Welsh border 
 The younger Simon goes to Kenilworth 
 Death of the Earl at Evesham, August 4 
 Revered as national martyr .... 
 
 VI. End of the Civil War and of the House or Mont 
 
 FORT 
 
 Restoration and reaction 
 
 Agreement of Kenilworth, 1266 .... 
 Revolt of the Earl of Gloucester and the city of London 
 
xii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGK 
 
 Peace brought about through the mediation of the 
 
 Legate, 1267 210 
 
 Fate of the Countess of Leicester and her children . 212 
 
 Eleanor in France 215 
 
 The murder at Viterbo, March 13, 1271 . . . 221 
 
 Death of the brothers Simon and Guy . . . 223 
 
 Amaury, and Eleanor, the last Princess of Wales . 220 
 
 Epilogue. 
 
 The Aragonese constitution not the model of the English 230 
 Local self-government furnished the model . . .234 
 First experiments in representation . . . .235 
 The precedent left by Montfort followed by Edward I. 238 
 
'U1TI7EE,SIT7' 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 In connection with the force of ideas and the energy 
 of new political principles, there Las been need in all 
 ages for the one prominent individual in whom they may 
 be personified, and who may break open a path for them 
 where he himself essays to advance. And in the days 
 of a great revolution some master spirit seldom fails to 
 arise, a man who, being himself the product of great 
 general excitement, concentrates in his own person the 
 aspiration which gives it birth, and, venturing upon an 
 enterprise resembling a riddle or a game of hazard, is 
 proclaimed either conqueror or martyr by the result. 
 His claim to notice is stronger in proportion as the 
 principle of preservation of all that is fully tested and 
 established is combined in him with the principle of 
 innovation, and in proportion as the popular term of 
 liberal or conservative is inapplicable to him. 
 
 It has never been questioned that Simon de Montfort, 
 Earl of Leicester, gave a decisive direction to the early 
 development of parliamentary government in England, 
 
xiv PREFACE. 
 
 when, in venturing for the first time to summon the 
 Commons, he added the idea of representation to the 
 previously existing custom of severally convoking the 
 members of certain classes. Yet, mainly because of 
 his personal fate, he, centuries later, was universally 
 regarded, like Oliver Cromwell, as a revolutionist whose 
 influence had been evil, despite its undeniable results. 
 It is remarkable that though the defenders of parlia- 
 mentary rights in the seventeenth century were zealous 
 in bringing to light documents and records relating to 
 earlier epochs in their country^s history, they concerned 
 themselves but little about his life and achievements.* 
 The first to deal with the subject were men of opposite 
 politics, who wrote the history of England in a con- 
 nected form, after the personal monarchy of the Stuarts 
 had been re-established and a second time destroyed. 
 Thomas Carte, the Jacobite, in his book treats of 
 Montfort as of a base and ungrateful rebel, and for a 
 whole century Tory historians have echoed his senti- 
 ments, notably Hume, who, though he cannot altogether 
 resist the impression of great qualities, finds much 
 more of hypocrisy and ambition, who condemns him as 
 " a bold and artful conspirator,^^ and calls the House of 
 
 * Sir Roger Twysden stands ahnost alone. Certaine Considera- 
 tions upon the Government of England, ed. J. M. Kemble 
 (Camden Society, 1849), p. 97 : And it is cleere the people of 
 England were so far from accounting them who dyed in armes 
 against their prince to have beene guilty of sinn for it, as they 
 have been hardly restrained from honouringe them as saints, 
 thinking them to dye " pro justitia ecclesiae et regni." 
 
PREFACE. XV 
 
 Commons " a plant set up by an inauspicious hand/^* 
 Only in later days the Whigs have naturally adopted 
 him as the unconscious champion of the freedom of 
 after generations.! 
 
 Very recently an article in the Quarterly Review has 
 attempted a much wider, higher, and more impartial 
 estimate of his character, founded upon the best 
 materials, which have now become unusually abundant ; 
 and from the same quarter a more extensive treatise 
 upon Simon de Montfort is in prospect. J The author 
 of the present work confesses that he has been stimu- 
 lated thereby to take the subject in hand again, though 
 scarcely treating it exhaustively. The inducements 
 were, partly the fulness of the documents and annals 
 made accessible during recent years in the collection 
 issued under the superintendence of the Master of the 
 Rolls, partly the wish to revise carefully by their help 
 those episodes, at least, that relate to them in a section 
 of the English History written fourteen years ago, when 
 it was still necessary to collect laboriously the most im- 
 
 * History of England, ed. Basel, ii. 466, 487, 493. 
 
 f Sir James Mackintosh, History of England, 1830, i. 238. 
 Macaulay passes him by altogether. Hallam, View of the State 
 of Europe During the Middle Ages, ed. 1855, iii. 27, still speaks 
 of the innovation of a usurper. 
 
 X Quarterly Review, vol. cxix. 26, from the pen of Dr. Shirley, 
 the late lamented Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Oxford, 
 who died in the prime of life in 1866. According to Shiiiey, 
 Royal and other Historical Letters illustrative of the reign of 
 Henry HI., vol. ii. 434, Mr. Cobbe was engaged upon a Hfe of 
 Leicester. 
 
xvi PREFACE. 
 
 portant materials from among tlie archives of tlie 
 Tower. The biographical form naturally suggested 
 itself for the monograph. 
 
 Its dedication to the revered and distinguished 
 teacher and master will be deemed fitting by all who 
 have perused Rankers last great work, where, in a few 
 incomparable lines, he has indicated the place due 
 to the great creator of the Lower House. 
 
-^-*^ Of THR 
 
 ^univeesity; 
 
 SIMON DE MONTEOET. 
 
 mTEODUCTIOK 
 
 THE NORMAN MONARCHY JOHN LACKLAND MAGNA 
 
 CHARTA — THE COMPROMISE AFTER THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 FAVOURABLE AND ADVERSE TENDENCIES UNDER 
 HENRY III. 
 
 The strong monarchic power of tlie Norman kings 
 in England, unique as it was in character at a time 
 when self-governing feudal States everywhere else 
 circumscribed the throne, had yet difficulty, after a 
 few generations were passed, in preserving its founda- 
 tions unshaken without disturbing the outlines once 
 sketched by the Conqueror. 
 
 A contest for the throne, substituting for awhile 
 the reign of violence for public tranquillity, the struggle 
 between Church and State under the first Plantagenet, 
 the crusade that caused his son and heir to forget the 
 duties of sovereignty, each in turn had aided the 
 
 'I 
 
2 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 development of forces that had always existed imme- 
 diately beneath the throne^ and awakened claims 
 which were in part older than its supremacy. An 
 admirable administrative system by means of sheriffs 
 and judicial commissions united all authority, whether 
 civil, military, judicial, or financial, in the person of 
 , the monarch. But, though this organization was still 
 ' maintained 'ill " tolerable efiiciency, Henry II. had been 
 36n;i|jelled; graditally to expand the ancient royal courts 
 of his ancestors into a kind of national assembly, and 
 to summon at least the higher nobility to his assistance 
 against the haughty priest through whom the Church, 
 even in the little island kingdom, laid claim to all 
 those spiritual and temporal prerogatives won by the 
 mightiest Popesfrom Salic and Hohenstaufen monarchs. 
 The old Teutonic institutions, the legal customs of the 
 Anglo-Saxons, had never been forgotten : with each 
 new reign the foreign master had solemnly confirmed 
 them to the conquered people, and it was to them that 
 appeal was made against Thomas Becket and the 
 Canon Law. But, though very welcome to the mo- 
 narchy for the purpose of sheltering the State against 
 the feudal supremacy of Eome, they became no less 
 dangerous to it when the tenants -in-chief learnt how 
 to make use of them for the purpose of attaining to 
 greater political consequence. In the circle of the 
 great Norman vassals the memory survived of the 
 vastly more important privileges exercised by their 
 predecessors, the Anglo-Saxon Witan. The lesser 
 Barons, attracted rather by the public life of the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 county than by that of the kingdom, began to draw 
 near to the numerous Anglo-Saxon freeholders, and to 
 take part in their communal life, which had never been 
 inteiTupted. Ab least one town, the greatest in the 
 country, elected its own magistrates, farming the taxes 
 due to the Lord of the Manor and receiving in return 
 recognition of its corporate rights by royal charter. 
 And, lastly, the sentiment of nationality could never 
 be wholly stifled in the Church, either by the catholicity 
 of her aims or by William I/s incorporation of the 
 Norman clergy in the ranks of his socially splendid, 
 but politically dependent, feudal organization. Thus, 
 in a narrow and isolated territory, many influences 
 combined to soften with the lapse of time the violent 
 enmity of race, to level by slow degrees the anta- 
 gonism between victors and vanquished, and to open 
 the way for the reconciliation of Norman genius for 
 government with Saxon traditions of immemorial 
 personal and communal liberty. Moreover, the first 
 blending of two different nationalities in itself involved 
 a danger to the absolute monarchy, which in this form 
 had only become possible through the sharp antagonism 
 of race. The danger increased immeasurably when 
 Normandy was lost, the original continental heritage 
 of the rulers, and the fortunes of their dynasty became 
 bound up with those of the island more closely than 
 before. 
 
 King John, who had once treacherously helped to 
 overthrow the regency established by his crusading 
 brother, had at Richard's death set aside his nephew, 
 
 B 2 
 
4- SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 the lawful lieir, and, in order to force his way to the 
 throne, had probably murdered him with his own hand. 
 He suffered the punishment of such misdeeds when 
 his liege lord, Philip Augustus of France, ignominiously 
 deprived him of the land of his fathers, both on the 
 field of battle and in the court of his peers. His own 
 vassals, of whom he had sought to assure himself in 
 earlier enterprises, now regarded with abhorrence and 
 indignation a prince whose wickedness threatened 
 them all alike, their property and estates, their power 
 and honour. Even whilst in possession of the still 
 almost unshaken powers of sovereign authority, his 
 government was a system of licentious misrule. Their 
 own safety required that the barons of Norman descent 
 should combine to resist the tyrant with their English- 
 speaking tenants and the independent freeholders of 
 the same race. 
 
 John soon afterwards brought upon himself the 
 censures of Rome also, for after a disputed election 
 to the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury he refused to 
 grant admission into the kingdom to the papal nominee, 
 Stephen Langton, an Englishman who had been a 
 personal friend of Pope Innocent III. ever since their 
 student days in Paris. Further, he joined with his 
 nephew, the banished Guelph Emperor Otto IV,, in that 
 widely extended league which ventured to oppose the 
 policy of the allied Capets and Hohenstaufen in the 
 border States of France and Germany, assisting heresy 
 in Languedoc against the orthodox authority of the 
 Church, and the numerous chieftains on the slopes of 
 
INTRODUCTION. xS^FOR^J;^ 
 
 the Pyrenees against the progress of Frencli centraliza- 
 tion. There was a moment when the English Barons, 
 who had risen, as they solemnly declared, to defend 
 the rights of the Church as well as their own fiefs, ap- 
 peared as the Pope^s allies, and Philip Augustus him- 
 self prepared an expedition against England. John 
 must have been ruined if he had not seized this mo- 
 ment, before any decisive military catastrophe ensued 
 on the continent, to make terms with his most for- 
 midable antagonist. He was guarding the coast at 
 Dover with his foreign mercenaries, and there, on the 
 15th of May, 1213, as Innocent III. required, he took 
 at the hands of Pandulph, the Papal Legate, the oath 
 of fealty for England and Ireland which his ancestors 
 had constantly and resolutely refused. At the same 
 time he was compelled to sanction the return, not 
 only of Stephen Langton, but also of certain of the lay 
 nobility whom he had banished. 
 
 The antagonistic forces now changed their direction 
 in a manner surprising to all parties. The Barons, who 
 had aimed at privileges of security and independence, 
 were henceforth unable to look upon the Pope as an 
 ally : the Pope was rudely undeceived with regard to 
 his scholarly friend, and the King failed in his attempt 
 to wreak unchecked vengeance upon his enemies, be- 
 cause the same Archbishop Stephen did not withdraw 
 the sentence of excommunication until the ancient laws 
 of Edward the Confessor had been afresh confirmed 
 by oath. When the King, nevertheless, persisted in 
 his violence, the learned lawyer and patriot drew the 
 
6 SIMON DE MONTFORT, 
 
 attention of his countrymen to earlier franchises, es- 
 pecially to the coronation charter of Henry I., whereby 
 in former times the first bounds had already been set 
 to the military supremacy of the feudal sovereigns. 
 Through him_, clergy and aristocracy were inspired 
 with a new sentiment of nationality, which could no 
 longer be called Eomance in character. The servant 
 of the Church not only left the confederate peers 
 unrestrained, he even aided them with his counsel 
 when, openly revolting against the sovereign, they 
 entered at the same time into a contest with the Pope, 
 whose paramount authority they had once well-nigh 
 desired, but now disowned as unworthy. Prudently 
 assuring themselves of the capital and the wealthy 
 citizen class which was supreme there, they scorned 
 both outlawry and interdict, and, as if inspired by a 
 holy cause, defied the King and presented themselves 
 to the country as an ^^ army of the Lord.^^ No one 
 came to John's help, for the Pope could not stretch his 
 arm across the channel without aid from Philip 
 Augustus, the victor of Bouvines, who would consent 
 to no terms with the English King. Beset on all sides 
 by clergy and laity, by his own subjects, the vassals 
 and their tenants without distinction of race, the King 
 came down from his castle of Windsor to the meadow 
 of Runemede on the 15th of June, 1215, and affixed 
 his seal to the Magna Charta, as drawn up in accord- 
 ance with the articles presented to him by the Barons 
 with swords in their hands. 
 
 It may be that in the constitutional history of other 
 
INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 nations^ one or another statute points to a similar poli- 
 tical origin^ but nothing can be found comparable to 
 this pillar of the English constitution. When the 
 monarchy was shaken by the consequences of irre- 
 sponsible tyranny and arbitrary violence, it was owing 
 to Magna Charta that a firm basis was regained in the 
 old German birthright of personal liberty, and the 
 first efibrt made to attain to constitutional government 
 by means of the principle of representation. 
 
 With the closest possible adaptation to the feudal 
 circumstances of the age, sixty-three clauses were 
 drawn up to define the lawful limits of the liege 
 lord^s supremacy, military, civil, judicial, and financial, « 
 and to secure these limitations more firmly than by 
 the charters that had been customary hitherto. For 
 the latter purpose a solemn oath was to be sworn be 
 the two contending parties, and a committee appointed 
 of twenty-five Barons, who, as guardians of the 
 agreement, were to be invested with power of making 
 armed resistance and of distraining in case the King t^ 
 disregarded his engagement. (61.) John was obliged 
 further to concede that when other feudal contri- 
 butions were required by the crown than three ancient 
 prescriptive dues, especially when scutage was de- 
 manded instead of personal military service, the 
 great council of the realm should be called together ; 
 the great Barons individually by royal writ, the 
 smaller nobility holding fiefs immediately of the 
 crown, collectively through the sheriffs. (Art. 12, 14.) 
 Without further interference in executive functions. 
 
8 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 the confederates hoped to obtain the best guarantee 
 against their arbitrary exercise through this right of 
 assent accorded to all concerned. A similar provision 
 restrained the tyranny of penal jurisdiction in the 
 famous clause that henceforth no free man should be 
 imprisoned_, disinherited, banished, or otherwise injured 
 in life or limb, except by the verdict of his peers j 
 that is, the judgment of his legal equals, and the law 
 of the land. (Art. 39.) 
 
 But some general ideas impressed upon Magna 
 Charta its peculiar and imperishable character. The 
 people of Saxon and Norman descent, all ranks and 
 all orders, had revolted against the same evils, and 
 the great act not only marked an important step in 
 the progress of national reconciliation, but also dis- 
 covered the essential idea upon which a constitutional 
 State is grounded, the common interest of all free 
 classes of the population. Here we do not see a 
 single vassal, or a single noble caste, insisting upon 
 a new and exclusive privilege, as often happened upon 
 the continent, but the legal protection of all was kept 
 in view, with a clear and admirable recognition of the 
 immutable supremacy of the commonwealth. There- 
 fore the Norman undertook to observe towards the 
 English freeholder, the noble toward his lower vassals, 
 each in his degree, the same feudal engagements as 
 those claimed by themselves from the crown. There- 
 fore burghers and yeomen were not excluded, and a 
 special mention distinguished the powerful city of 
 London in the article making extraordinary aids con- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 ditional upon tlie privileges of the estates. Therefore 
 the Prince of Wales and the King of Scotland, so far 
 as they had suffered from John^s violence, and, above 
 all, the Church, despite her peculiar canonical privi- 
 leges, all appeared closely interwoven in the secular 
 and national State, as allies of the Barons who won 
 V the charter of legitimate freedom. 
 
 Nevertheless, there existed in the connection with 
 the clergy, although their privileges were guaranteed 
 in the first article, a seed of immediate danger to the 
 common work. No one was subsequently more 
 faithful to it than Archbishop Stephen, who had been 
 in a measure the spiritual father of the movement, bat 
 a higher than royal absolutism, that of the Pope 
 to whom John had yielded his kingdom in fee, proved 
 at the time more powerful. A general promise to 
 seek no repeal of the concessions from the Koman 
 See was obtained for insertion in the charter, but no 
 personal pledge from Master Pandulph who was 
 present. 
 
 To this King John trusted. At the moment of 
 taking the oath, although fully determined not to 
 observe it, he offered no opposition to the formal 
 execution of the instrument, and suffered copies of it 
 to be deposited in the cathedral churches of the realm ; 
 but it was omitted in the Patent and Charter EoUs of 
 the year, an evident proof of the King's intention that 
 it should never become a law of the realm. On the 
 24th of August the bull of dispensation appeared, 
 as had been apprehended. Innocent III. there 
 
10 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 described the Magna Charta as a " base^ abominable, 
 shameful, and unrighteous compact/^ and declared 
 its authors to be worse than the Saracens. The 
 Barons and the citizens of London were excom- 
 municated, Stephen Langton was suspended, and the 
 King himself solemnly forbidden to observe the agree- 
 ment that had been forced upon him. 
 
 None could fail to perceive that the charter would 
 have temporarily, perhaps permanently, restrained the 
 free exercise of the royal authority, and it was equally 
 undeniable that the measures adopted in order to 
 bring about this result were revolutionary in character, 
 however medieval views upon the vassals^ right of 
 coercion might differ from the views of to-day. King 
 John saw in each limitation a derogation from his 
 personal rule, but in his inmost soul he revolted 
 most of all against the twenty-five guardians ap- 
 pointed to keep watch over him and the newly con- 
 stituted public law, subjects who virtually presumed 
 to suspend the action of the crown. He had no 
 thought of dismissing his foreign troops, or depriving 
 the foreign captains of the bailiwicks conferred upon 
 them in England, as he had been compelled to 
 swear. (Art. 50.) As soon as he was able, he disengaged 
 himself from those who held him in restraint, and lurked 
 about the southern coast until the arrival of the papal 
 censures. Then, in possession of his foreign forces, the 
 castles, and the treasury, he was well prepared to assume 
 the offensive. At the commencement of the first civil 
 war that blazed around Magna Charta, the bloody 
 
INTRODUGTTON. 11 
 
 prelude to a constitutional struggle of several genera- 
 tions_, tlie vicious and despotic sovereign stood in the 
 more advantageous position,, protected as lie was by 
 the Pope and supported by the still almost unshaken 
 State machinery of the Norman monarchy. His 
 opponents^ however just their cause might be, appeared 
 even morally as the weaker party, for, when their 
 twenty-five agents, a sort of committee of the estates, 
 failed to command either consideration or respect 
 among their fellow-countrymen, the Barons in their 
 despair applied for foreign help, and Louis, the heir to 
 the French throne, landed with an armed force in the 
 spring of 1216, doubtless with designs of personal 
 advantage. In the course of the following campaign, 
 when reduced to the last extremity, John suddenly 
 died on the 19th of October. The great Pope had 
 preceded him by several months, but not until he had 
 caused all such as had compromised themselves to feel 
 his vengeance, and provided for the future by de- 
 spatching a cardinal legate to England to quell the re- 
 volt and maintain the supremacy of the Holy Father. 
 
 It was perhaps well for the claims of monarchy 
 themselves that they passed to Henry III., a child 
 of nine years, and were represented by a sagacious 
 protector, William, Earl of Pembroke. Moreover, 
 the general course of afiairs naturally tended towards 
 a peaceful compromise after the death of the two 
 most prominent actors on the scene. Some at least 
 of the nobility, offended as Englishmen by the bearing 
 of the French, and discouraged as a class by the 
 
12 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 failure of their attempt to establish their own per- 
 manent authority side by side with that of the King, 
 met in conference at Bristol on the 11th of November, 
 with the representative of the Sovereign and the 
 representative of a Pope in whom the fierce and 
 noble characteristics of his great predecessor were 
 equally lacking. In order to escape the horrors of 
 excommunication and civil war, the three estates 
 united in an agreement based upon the confirmation 
 of Magna Charta, with omission of those premature 
 constitutional demands, the committee claiming a sort 
 of collateral government (Art. 61), and the right 
 of taxation demanded by the assembly of the estates 
 in certain extraordinary cases. The article concerning 
 personal liberty remained intact, likewise the pro- 
 vision that penal jurisdiction over the Barons should 
 rest with their peers, but the latter was so interpreted 
 that the legal privilege could only avail before the 
 King's supreme court. The same omissions occur in a 
 subsequent confirmation of November, 1217, soon 
 after the French had been obliged to withdraw upon 
 moderate terms, and the princes of Scotland and 
 Wales had been conciliated likewise. The influences 
 of foreign countries upon the development of the 
 national constitution were thus repelled on all sides, 
 but not without sacrificing meanwhile the most im- 
 portant principles upon which it was based. The 
 great Barons and vassals were themselves , perplexed 
 and irresolute in their attempts to protect law and 
 justice. The crown could not regard either the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 committee^ witli their power to distrain and appeal to 
 armSj or tlie privilege of tlie estates to grant taxes^ 
 and necessarily also to refuse them^ as compatible 
 with its authority. After these disputed points, there- 
 fore, had been postponed till more propitious times, 
 the expurgated draught of the 11th of February, 1224, 
 with the added forest charter, remained thenceforth the 
 oflBcial form of a compact which during following cen- 
 turies was alternately broken and confirmed, and did not 
 preserve even its mutilated shape unchanged. Without 
 it the monarchy would scarcely have obtained even the 
 outward submission of the vassals. But how could 
 the Barons forget that which they had but now 
 struggled to attain, which had received only very 
 defective legal sanction, and which King and Pope 
 could vie with one another in revoking and anathe- 
 matizing ? During the insecurity of Henry III.^s long 
 reign the political conflict continually threatened to 
 break out afresh, until it led at last to progress 
 whereby the constitution was essentially transformed. 
 The men of the reconciliation soon left the scene ; 
 the old Earl of Pembroke was dead, and Cardinal 
 Guala returned to Italy when he believed that he 
 had provided for the foreign and domestic peace of the 
 kingdom. He was succeeded by the grasping 
 Pandulph, at whose side Pierre des Koches, the 
 imperious Poitevin Bishop of Winchester, sought to 
 govern the country at his pleasure. Other sentiments, 
 loyal and peaceful, but at the same time patriotic, 
 inspired the men who gathered round the great 
 
14 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 justiciary Hubert de Burgh, Arclibisliop Stephen, the 
 sons of the late hereditary Earl Marshal Pembroke, 
 and other chiefs of the aristocracy. In these circles 
 the object kept in view was to save the realm during 
 the minority from the evils of faction, and especially 
 to purge it from a number of foreign adventurers who 
 had maintained themselves ever since King John^s 
 days in isolated royal fortresses. 
 
 Henry III. took the government formally into his 
 own hands at Oxford in 1227. The confirmation 
 of the charters was omitted on this occasion, although 
 it had been universally expected. It soon became 
 evident that the wearer of the crown was a prince 
 without force of will, vacillating and dependent upon 
 others, one who would weakly submit to the supre- 
 macy of Rome, and prefer incompetent favourites to 
 any constitutional council of the tenants-in-chief The 
 latter, great and small, were still entirely without 
 experience and so far unqualified for organizing a 
 permanent political corporation, so that the financial, 
 military, and penal authority of the crown would have 
 remained practically as unlimited as before, if growing 
 pecuniary embarrassments had not made it necessary, 
 at nearly regular intervals, to call together the 
 Prelates and Barons, with whom it constantly became 
 more difficult to deal. Popular aspirations and the 
 individual goodwill of noble and discerning men, were 
 wholly insufficient to establish the firm political con vic- 
 jbion by force of which alone constitutional struggles 
 achieve a salutary result. But the time of testing 
 
IN'IRODUCTION. 15 
 
 and purifying had come, and some notable fruit 
 ripened in the course of one remarkable generation. 
 
 The quarrel between the crown and the estates was 
 kept alive mainly through the King^s anti-national 
 views, whilst the more worthy among the nobility 
 relied upon patriotic feeling for support. Not only 
 the clerical and financially disastrous rule of Papal 
 Legates was directed against the strengthening of 
 a distinct English nationality, but also the most 
 positive preference on the part of the King, whose 
 mother had contracted a second marriage with a 
 Poitevin nobleman, and whose eldest sister was 
 married to King Alexander II. of Scotland. In 
 his early years he himself attempted to resume the , 
 war with France, in order to win back the numerous f 
 continental possessions of his house; through all 
 his embarrassments he kept up his foreign relations, to 
 the permanent injury of his domestic power. Avail- 
 ing himself of these propensities. Bishop Peter of 
 Winchester in 1232 succeeded in making the Great 
 Justiciary, Hubert de Burgh, the victim of base 
 ingratitude and unworthy persecution : the noble- 
 men of rank thereupon refused to contribute sub- 
 sidies and gathered round the hereditary Earl Mar- 
 shal, Kichard of Pembroke, whom the Bishop then 
 contrived to remove by murder. It was not till a 
 conference at Westminster in the spring of 1234^ 
 after the Barons had again appeared armed in 
 the field, and the Primate, the afterwards sainted 
 Edmund of Canterbury, had threatened the 
 
16 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 King with excommunication, tliat tlie foreign 
 prelate, who had obtained for the King from 
 Gregory IX. another dispensation from the oath 
 upon Magna Charta, was dismissed from office with 
 other hated counsellors. In the struggle for the 
 right of appointing the royal council^ which at 
 brief intervals continually broke out afresh, the crown 
 had been compelled to yield once more to the will 
 of the nation. 
 
 Nevertheless, with the internal difficulties of his 
 kingdom always in view. King Henry paused not 
 a moment in his effi)rts to form widely extended 
 connections with the greatest European powers. 
 Contrary to the Guelph traditions of the Plantagenets, 
 he at one time desired himself to espouse a Hohen- 
 staufen princess, doubtless with the design of obtain- 
 ing effectual assistance against France^ and the 
 project of a matrimonial alliance succeeded at least so 
 far that his sister Isabella was married to the 
 Emperor Frederick II. in 1235. He hoped to obtain 
 patronage from Pope and Emperor at the same time, 
 and in the following year St. Louis also became his 
 brother-in,-law through his own marriage with 
 Eleanor of Provence. The results were alliances and 
 treaties of most diverse character, and through them 
 monstrous demands upon his own kingdom and 
 subjects. When Pope Innocent IV. soon afterwards 
 
 (undertook the great war „.. of .annihilation against 
 Frederick 11. , he treated the King of England already 
 as his most obsequious vassal, his country as part of 
 
INTRODUCTION, 17 
 
 tlie papal domain. One cardinal as Nuncio of tlie 
 Curia no longer sufficed ; in all dioceses of the British 
 Isles permanent agents of the papal chamber 
 collected the clerical revenues for their supreme 
 master^ and with his approval contrived to place 
 the most lucrative English benefices in their own 
 or their countrymen^s hands. Soon the uncles of the 
 new Queen found their way to court also_, attracted 
 by English wealthy which now first acquired European 
 fame ; one of them_, Boniface of Savoy, even took 
 possession of the archbishopric of Canterbury at the 
 death of the pious Edmund. The King^s step- 
 brothers and sisters followed as soon as they ceased 
 to be children. It seemed as if England had become, 
 through the weakness and knavery of its ruler, the 
 rendezvous and the prey of insatiable Provenyals 
 Poifcevins, and papal emissaries. 
 
 Among the vassals who were settled on their estates 
 must not these proceedings have aroused a suspicion 
 that not only all their oft-promised privileges were 
 concerned, but even their claim to the blessing of a 
 home ? With common grievances must not prelates 
 and barons have again sympathized in the desire to 
 obtain at last better guarantees than the swearing of 
 an oath, and the sealing of the great charter, which in 
 its essential principles was constantly disregarded ? 
 Their demeanour was surly and even menacing when 
 they appeared upon the appointed days, still only the 
 chiefs of the nobility and the dignitaries of the Church, 
 fur the purpose of granting subsidies in the name 
 
 c 
 
18 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 of all the vassals of tlie crown, or ratifying a statute 
 by their assent, as at Merton in January, 1236. 
 Formally called together upon State affairs at regular 
 intervals, their importance undoubtedly increased, and, 
 as at other times, an imprudent absolutism itself gave 
 impetus to its growth. In oflScial language these 
 deliberations were already styled Parliaments. Witb- 
 out constitutional authority, they repeatedly availed 
 themselves of the growing sympathy of the nation to 
 reject the shameless demands of the government, 
 retorting by loud complaints against the administration. 
 In order to break their opposition, and illegally to 
 secure the richest revenues for foreign favourites, the 
 great offices of State were conferred no longer upon 
 native nobles, but upon men of low birth, generally 
 Churchmen, who, in league with theRomishpro curators, 
 sought to discover fresh pretext for tyranny. 
 
 Dull and gloomy discontent smouldered in the 
 country, for after Hubert was dead, and the race of 
 the great Earl Marshal had become extinct, no 
 courageous representative of national rights rose from 
 among the native nobility. The people would have 
 endured long with the patience of the Teutonic race, 
 had it not happened marvellously, amid the general 
 entanglement of European affairs in the middle of the 
 century, that a stranger became, through a peculiarly 
 romantic chain of circumstances, the champion of 
 national freedom. 
 
^university: 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE HOUSE OF MONTFORT BEFORE 1239. 
 
 origin op the race — the earldom of leicester 
 
 simon de montfort iv — his relation to england 
 
 his son simon in england^ 1231 — marries the 
 
 king's sister, 1238 — the emperor Frederick ii. 
 HIS brother-in-law. 
 
 The race which was called Montforfc FAmaury, from 
 its castle on a hill between Paris and Chartres, had 
 already, in earlier centuries, been from time to time 
 involved in the destinies of Britain. Tradition derived 
 its origin from that Judith, daughter of Charles the 
 Bald, who in 856 had married ^thelwulf of Wessex, 
 and after his death exposed herself to ecclesiastical 
 censures by a union with his fierce and turbulent son 
 ^thelbald. She contracted a third marriage with 
 Baldwin Bras-de-fer, Earl of Flanders. His great- 
 grandson, William of Hainault, was said to have 
 married an heiress of Montfort and Epernon at the 
 
 c2 
 
20 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 end of the tenth century _, and to have become the 
 founder of a family that through nine generations 
 was represented in the direct male line."^ Another 
 genealogical tradition connected the race immediately 
 with the royal house of Capet by making Amaury II. 
 a bastard of King Eobert instead of the son of 
 William of Hainault.f It is certain that the Montforts 
 were counted among the bravest and most loyal 
 vassals of the French crown, and the situation of their 
 estates helped to place them in the foremost ranks of 
 the chivalry that always opposed a steadfast resistance 
 to the encroachments of the Dukes of Normandy, and 
 subsequently to those of the Counts of Anjou. In the 
 wars between Louis VI. and Henry I. of England, 
 Amaury IV., or Amaury I. as Count of Evreux, 
 appears as assisting his cousin Hugo, Lord of Mont- 
 fort sur Risle, Waleram, Lord of Meulent, and other 
 refractory Norman nobles. His help was of no avail, 
 for in 1124 the King-Duke remained victorious, and 
 threw his prisoners into the dungeon at Rouen, 
 excepting Hugo, whom he took with him to 
 
 * L'Art de Verifier les Dates, ed. 1818. 8vo. Vol. xi. 471. In 
 accordance with it, Histoire Litteraire de France, xvii. 205. 
 
 f Les autres (desquels ropinion est plus certaine) dient a Bau- 
 douin, sumomme de I'lsle, Conte de Flandres, la fille du Conte 
 de Noyon, de laquelle le Roy Robert eut Amaulry, pere de 
 Simon et Amaulry de Montfort, et dont est venue la maison de 
 Montfort I'Amaulry, ne peut etre este Eoyne, mais seulement 
 amye du Roy. Du Tillet, Reccuil des Roys de France, 1602, 
 p. 65. 
 
THE HOUSE OF MONTFOUT. 21 
 
 England to suffer long and strict confinement at 
 Gloucester. ^ 
 
 In 1140 Simon was succeeded in Montfort and in 
 Evreux by Ms second son, Simon III., surnamed tlie 
 Bald, a contemporary of Henry Plantagenet, and of 
 the events wliereb}»lie confirmed his power in England 
 and Normandy. As Simon was at the same time a 
 vassal of this energetic prince and of the French king, 
 he could only keep his own advantage in view amid 
 their incessant rivalries, taking or changing sides with 
 all the skill at his command. The marriage, which 
 became of so much consequence to his descendants, 
 with the sister and co-heiress of Robert de Beaumont, 
 Earl of Leicester, he owed to a passing connection 
 with England, probably at the time when the heir to 
 the throne was concerting a widely extended con- 
 spiracy against his father with many English and 
 Norman nobles, amongst others with Earl Robert of 
 Leicester. According to Domesday Book the De 
 Beaumonts had crossed the channel with the Con- 
 queror from their family seat at Meulent, and had 
 received the great English barony of Leicester in fee. 
 Robert, the fourth and last earl of the race, survived 
 until 1204. His sister Amicia bore her husband three 
 sons : Amaury, afterwards Count of Evreux, Simon, 
 Lord of Montfort, Guy, Lord of La Ferte Alais, and 
 
 * And Hugo of Mundford he sende to Engleland, and let hine 
 don on ifele bendas on thone castel on Gleucestre. Saxon Chroni- 
 cles, ed. Earle, 1865, p. 252. S. Lappenberg, Geschichte von 
 England, ii. 273. 
 
^2 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 three daughters. The father died in 1181^ the 
 marriage therefore must have taken place at least as 
 early as 1173. But the insufficiency of the documents 
 causes considerable obscurity with regard to the 
 dates, the degree of relationship, and even to the 
 hereditary right of Amicia.* 
 
 Again, with the second son of this marriage the 
 race not only continued to flourish in the ancient 
 inheritance, but reached at once the climax of its 
 glory. Simon IV. of Montfort was that hero of the- 
 orthodox Church, equally famed as crusader, con- 
 queror, and statesman, the most dreaded scourge of 
 all heretical enemies, especially those belonging to 
 another nationality. He had already reached the age 
 of manhood in 1202, when he desired to seek adven- 
 \ ture by joining the Venetian crusade against Constan- 
 tinople, but refrained in obedience to the prohibition 
 
 * Concerning the marriage of Amicia to Simon III., Dugdale, 
 Monasticon Anglicannm, i. 312, and Chronica Albrici Monachi ; 
 Trium Fontium in Monum. Germaniae Hist. S.S. xxiii. 871. 
 Compare Anselme, Histoire Genealogique et Chronologique de la 
 Maison Eoyale de France, i. 314. Also, according to Kot. Lit. 
 Claus., ed. Th. D. Hardy, vol. i. 30, a. 1205, Amicie Comitisse de 
 Montford manerium de Winterburnstok cum pertinentiis quod fuit 
 datum ei in maritagium, and p. 70, August 28, 1206, Comitissa 
 mater Comitis Leicestrie, she was the wife of that elder Simon 
 and not of Simon IV. ; the latter is an entirely untenable asser- 
 tion by an heraldic scholar in the Historic Peerage of England, 
 1857, p. 283. The biography of Simon the younger in the 
 Quarterly Review, vol. cxix. 27, calls Amicia Petronilla, a com- 
 mon family name with both the Montforts and the Beaumonts. 
 
THE H0U8E OF MONTFORT. 23 
 
 of Innocent III. Some years later his mother's right 
 to the English earldom devolved upon him, the second 
 son, and was confirmed by King John. He bore 
 thenceforth the title of Earl of Leicester, although his 
 enterprising nature quickly caused him to disregard 
 the feudal allegiance it involved.* An ardent admirerf 
 describes his noble and graceful appearance, his bodily 
 activity, and his chivalrous temper. Eloquent and 
 keen-minded, firm and immovable in all his purposesv 
 heroic, brave, chaste, and devoted to the orthodox / 
 faith from interest as well as conviction, he united in/ 
 himself all the characteristics of a northern Frenchl 
 nobleman, as they are found variously distributed \ 
 among individual members of his house during its 
 
 * In the document referred to of the 28th of August, 1206, 
 John styles him Simon Comes Leicestrie. Confirmation of the 
 10th of March, 1207, Kymer, Foedera i. 96. But as early as the 
 27th of December, 1207, the words occur : Terra ilia fuit in 
 manu Comitis Leicestrie Simonis quem de terris suis precepimus 
 disseisiri. Rot. Lit. Claus. i, 99. ^ 
 
 f Petri VaUium Sarnaii Monachi Historia Albigensium, Receuil 
 des Historicus des Gaules et de la France, xix. 22 : Genere prae- 
 clarus, virtute robustus, in armis plurimum exercitatus .... 
 statura procerus, caesarie spectabiHs, facie elegans, aspectu de- 
 corus, humeris eminens, bracliiis exertus, corpore venustus, mem- 
 bris omnibus agilis et habihs, acer et alacer . . . facundia 
 disertus, afifabiUtate commimis, contubernio amabihs, castitate 
 mundissimus, humihtate praecipuus, sapientia praeditus, in pro- 
 posito firmus, in consiHo provldus, in judicio Justus, in militiae 
 exercitiis sedulus, in suis actibus circumspectus, in incipien- 
 dis arduus, in perficiendis non defessus, totus divinis servitiis 
 mancipatus. 
 
24 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 long prosperity. Romantic, and at the same time 
 practical, lie was a master spirit in an age of profound 
 agitation which, gave birth to many new phenomena. 
 
 About the year 1190* he had married Alice, daughter 
 of Bouchard V. of Montmorency; she came of a noble 
 race, and was no less famed for her prudence and 
 pietyt than for the courage and endurance she mani- 
 fested by accompanying her husband on his great 
 conquering expeditions into southern France, though 
 most of their four sons and three daughters were then 
 infants, and the youngest was probably born at Lavaur 
 as late as 1211. In Lent, 1210, she joined her hus- 
 band at Pezenas with fresh troops from the north ; a 
 year later she and her eldest son Amaury appear as 
 principal witnesses when the wealthy Raymond of 
 Cahors was invested with the same castle, and again 
 on a similar occasion, April 23rd, 121 2, J On the 24th 
 of June, 1213, the father and mother conduct the 
 rs , still youthful Amaury to the altar of the church of 
 Castelnau d'Arri that he may be qualij&ed to bear 
 
 * L' Art de Verifier les Dates, xi. 481, says: Avant I'an 1191; 
 Vic et Vaissette, Histoire Generale de Languedoc, ed. 1842, v. 
 129: Avant I'an 1190. I know not on what ground, for it is diffi- 
 cult to determine the ages of the children, even approximately. 
 
 f Petri Vallium Sarnaii Mon. Hist. Albig. p. 23. In ea quippe 
 religio sapientiam et soUicitudinem adomabat, sapientia religio- 
 nem et soUicitudinem informabat, sollicitudo reUgionem et 
 sapientiam exercitabat. 
 
 \ Consensu et voluntate domiuae Aelipdis comitissae uxoris 
 meae et consensu et voluntate Amalrici primogeniti filii mei; 
 May 12, 1211. Hist, de Languedoc, Preuves, v. 582, cf. 188. 
 
 I 
 
THE HOUSE OF MONTFORT. 25 
 
 arms in the holy war. On the eve of the battle of 
 Mwvet, against the King of Aragon, Alice has an evil 
 dream, but her husband calmly bids her leave such 
 presen6iments to the superstitious Spaniards. In 1217 
 she defended Narbonne against Count Raymond of 
 Toulouse.* She was a woman of high courage, 
 altogether worthy of her husband, whom she survived 
 three years after he fell before Toulouse. She died on 
 the 22nd of February, 1221, and the dust of both 
 found a last resting-place in the family sepulchre of 
 Hautes-buyeres,^ facing the castle hill of Montfort. 
 Thither Simon's bones were transported, after they had 
 first been interred with pomp and ceremony in the 
 cathedral at Carcassone as those of a saint and 
 martyr. 
 
 We do not here follow the history of the Albigensian 
 war, and those undertakings whereby its greatest hero 
 sought to extend his power. So long as he was sup- 
 ported by Innocent III. and the Lateran, he appeared 
 to have established successfully his own dominion in 
 the place of many Proven9al dynasties, and carried out 
 his own purposes in defiance of England, Aragon, 
 Navarre, Castile, and Sicily; but even in his lifetime 
 a reaction set in against him, fostered in several 
 quarters, and not least by his liege lord the King of 
 France. We rather seek to trace his relations with 
 his English suzerain. 
 
 * La Contessa de Montfort, laquala era per hora dins la castel 
 Narbones an granda gamiso. Hist, de la Guerre des Albigeois, 
 Receuil, xix. 178. 
 
26 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 After his mother's death the crown fief of Leicester 
 was divided between Saiherde Quency, Earl of Win- 
 chester, and the house of Montfort, and on the 10th 
 of March, 1207, King John invested Simon with the 
 third penny of the county and the office of High 
 Steward of England, which was associated with the 
 title to the earldom.* But he never actually entered 
 upon the inheritance which was recognised as his. 
 According to one chronicle the insurgent Barons of 
 England in 1210 desired to make him their leader, if 
 not even their king ;t in the war between England 
 and France he sided with the latter ; in his crusade 
 against the heretics he turned his arms first and chiefly 
 against Count Raymond VI. of Toulouse, John's 
 brother-in-law, and for these various reasons the 
 English King deprived him of his offices and estates, 
 and transferred them to Ralph, Earl of Chester.J 
 But, in spite of deprivation and banishment, he con- 
 tinued to bear the title of Earl of Leicester, and was 
 so designated in 1209 by Innocent III. who, having 
 
 * Rymer, Foedera i. 96. Compare Hudson Turner, Manners 
 and Household Expenses of the Xlllth Century (Roxburgh 
 Club, 1841) ; preface, p. xi. 
 
 t Annales de Dunstaplia, ed. Luard, 1866 (Rer. Brit. med. aevi 
 SS.), p. 33, a. 1210, Rex . . . suscepit rumores de conspiratione 
 facta contra eum a baronibus suis, et quod elegerant Simonem de 
 Monteforti in regem Angliae. 
 
 X Not until the year 1215, according to Hudson Turner, 1. c. 
 In 1217 Henry III. transferred to the Earl of Chester another 
 manor, Quod est de feodo Comitis Simonis de Monte Forti, not 
 Leicestrie. Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 326, b. 
 
THE HOUSE OF MONTFORT. 27 
 
 himself quarrelled with the English King, now con- 
 firmed his vassal in the conquered territories of 
 Beziers and Carcassone.* Simon habitually styled 
 himself at this time,, Lord of Montfort, Earl of Leices- 
 ter, and, by the grace of God, Viscount of Beziers 
 and Carcassone.f Others, however, as the Bishop 
 of Cahors, Cardinal Kobert, and Innocent after 
 he was reconciled with King John, addressed him 
 simply as Count of Montfort.J It was not till later, 
 when his triumphs over his chief antagonist, Raymond, 
 had reached their climax, that ho assumed his titles, 
 Duke of Narbonne and Count of Toulouse, and 
 dropped that of Leicester, presumably at the request 
 of Pope Honorius III., because the curia was again at 
 peace with the King of England. § Though the con- 
 quests were rapidly lost after the father's death, his 
 eldest son continued to bear the same titles, so that in 
 1220 he styled himself Duke of Narbonne, Count of 
 Toulouse, Earl of Leicester, Lord of Montfort, and 
 
 * Innoc. III., Epp. xii. 122-129. Hurler's opinion that the 
 Earl's title was a personal designation is erroneous. Gesch. 
 Innoc. IIL, II., 303, N. 834. 
 
 f For the documents see Vic et Vaissette, V. 671, 573, 574, 
 577, 591, a. 1209, 1210, 1214. 
 
 I Ibid. 583, 592, 597, a. 1211, 1214, 1215. 
 
 § Ibid. 601, a. 1217, 1218. Once in the year 1216 he went into 
 North France upon affairs relating to his inheritance, but it can- 
 not be said whether the English fief was the occasion. Pro eo 
 quod in fata concesserat Amicia mater sua. Chronologia Roberti 
 Altissiodor. Recueil, xviii. p. 283. 
 
28 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 Constable of France^ but at tbe same time lie 
 was addressed merely as Count of Montfort.* The 
 English claims revived with greater distinctness when 
 the proud but now unsubstantial conquests in southern 
 France were ceded to Louis YIIT. in 1224, and to 
 Louis IX. in 1227. Amaury remained thenceforth 
 Constable of France, Count of Montfort, and Earl of 
 Leicester^t but all prospect that the last of these titles 
 could ever again be made good seemed to have 
 disappeared. 
 
 The duchy of Aquitaine, the possession of the 
 Plantagenets with its dependent principalities, stood 
 I in imminent danger of being swallowed up by the 
 ^ crusade so long as the Pope gave his full support 
 to the great Simon, and made no terms with England. 
 John^s seneschal, Savery de Mauleon, then held a 
 most arduous post. At the synod of Lavaur, in 
 1213, the chief accusation brought against Count 
 Raymond before the Pope was alliance with all the 
 enemies of the Church, — the Emperor Otto IV., the 
 Kings of England and Aragon, and the Sultan of 
 Morocco. I Crusaders gathered together from the 
 whole of northern Europe, from the Rhine and from 
 Germany, but none came from England, with a single 
 noteworthy exception; Walter Langton, brother of 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury, placed himself under 
 Simon^s banner, and in 1211 was taken prisoner by 
 
 * Vic et Vaissette, 606. 
 
 t Ibid. 625, 645, 646. 
 
 I Innoc. III., Epp. xvi. 41. 
 
THE HOUSE OF MONTFORT. 29 
 
 the heritical Count of Foix*. But the treaty between 
 Innocent and John, though immediately directed against 
 the insurgent Barons in England, very soon produced 
 an effect in the south also. Not only was Simon 
 compelled by the Pope to release the infant Jaime of 
 Aragon, whom he had destined to marry one of his 
 daughters, but also the English at the same time were 
 able to gain ground once more. John even ventured 
 to recommend his nephew, the younger Raymond, 
 who styled himself by preference son of Queen 
 Johanna Plantagenet, to the Lateran Council, and it 
 was owing to change in the papal policy, still more 
 than to success of native arms, that the conquests of 
 the northern French were so soon checked. Not the 
 Popes, but Philip Augustus and his dynasty, out 
 of regard for their own feudal interests, recognised 
 the house of Montfort in the wide but insecurely 
 defended districts south of the Garonne. The Papal 
 Court had no desire to see a new dominion founded 
 north and south of the Pyrenees, or the whole district 
 absorbed in one great French monarchy, and therefore it 
 preferred to desist from the merciless persecution of 
 heresy, in order that the old dynasties might be pre- 
 served in Languedoc, Provence, and Aragon. In Aqui- 
 taine, as well as at home, it helped to preserve his pos- 
 sessions to the English sovereign ; the advancing power 
 of the northern French, after assisting the English 
 Barons and the orthodox crusaders, was pressed back 
 
 * Galterum de Langatone, fratrem episcopi Cantuariensis. 
 Petr. Vail. Sarn. Receuil, xix. 60. 
 
30 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 on either hand, and it then became the interest of 
 the house of Montfort, never, after all its losses, 
 seriously estranged from Rome, to establish amicable 
 relations with the Plantagenets, as well as with the 
 Capets, during the period of treaties and truces. 
 
 The deprivation of Simon de Montfort was main- 
 tained under Henry III.,* until, at the time when a 
 sorry peace was concluded with the French in 1231,t 
 the Montforts themselves sought to renew the old 
 connection. The death of Ralph, Earl of Chester, 
 upon whom John had conferred the forfeited fief of 
 Leicester, so far as it was left entire, opened the way 
 on the 26th October, 1232. Amaury, as head of the 
 family, immediately made application on behalf of his 
 youngest brother Simon, who had already gone to 
 England. The intermediate brothers, Guy and Robert, 
 were dead. 
 
 We do not know the time and place of this remark- 
 able man's birth, but it may be presumed that he was 
 born before his mother hastened to join her husband 
 in the south, therefore about 1208, and afterwards 
 grew up under her eye in the castle of Montfort. 
 
 * Henry III to Stephen de Segrave, July 28, 1218. Rot. Lit. 
 Claus. i. 366^. Audivimus, quod Comes Simon de Monte Forti 
 in fata concessit . . . plenam saisinam de omnibus terris in 
 balliva vestra que ipsum Simonem hereditaria contingebant de 
 Honore Leicestrie. Aug. 26, ibid. p. 399. Rex concessit P. 
 Winton, Ep. (des Roches) custodiam terre que fuit Comitis 
 Simonis de Monte Forti quam diu ei placuit. 
 
 f Geschichte von England, iii. 582. 
 
THE HOUSE OF MONTFORT. 31 
 
 When some twenty years old lie had sought to attain 
 distinction in the unquiet days when Queen Blanche 
 ruled in the stead of her young son, Louis IX, but her 
 displeasure had compelled him to leave the kingdom.* 
 It is probable that he had already been active as 
 an English partisan in his own country, for just at the 
 time of the three years' truce he found an extremely 
 gracious reception at the court of Westminster. In 
 April, 1230, Henry assigned him a temporary pension 
 of 400 marks ; on the 13th of August, 1231, he 
 accepted Simon's homage for his grandmother's 
 inheritance. t This was but the first step, in some 
 measure the naturalization of the stranger ; full - 
 installation in his office and dignities involved a long 
 and tedious negotiation, for as England advanced 
 along the path of independent national development, 
 the monarch was less and less able to permit a divided 
 allegiance among his subjects. { It was chiefly for 
 this reason that Amaury determined to waive his own 
 
 * Chron. Guil. de Nangiaco. Recueil xx. 548, a. 1239, Simon 
 de Monte Forti, miles quidam de GaUia strenuissimus .... 
 infensus reginae Franciae matri regis piissimi Ludovici fugiit 
 in Angliam ad regem Henricum, quem ipse rex benigne sus- 
 cipiens dedit eidem in conjugio sororem suam cum Leicestriae 
 comitatu. 
 
 f Shirley, Royal and other Historical Letters illustrative of the 
 Reign of Henry III. (Rerr. Brit. med. aevi SS.) i. 362, 401. Also 
 Excerpta e Rot. Finium, i. 217. August, 1231, cujus homagium 
 rex cepit de honore Leicestrie. 
 
 X It is true that certain revenues (eschaeta) were also 
 granted to Simon in Normandy, donee terra nostra Angliae 
 
32 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 claim to the English earldom in favour of his 
 brother. 
 
 But years intervened before Simon could attain his 
 object; and, being himself without property and 
 burdened with debts, he was meanwhile supported by 
 pensions from the revenues of Leicester.* Like his 
 father he was adventurous and aspiring; twice he 
 believed that he should succeed in forming a brilliant 
 matrimonial alliance in his own country, but each 
 time his expectations were ruined through the jealousy 
 of the French court ;t his energetic spirit then found 
 at the English court fitting means of obtaining, to- 
 gether with the coveted earldom, a personal position 
 and an opportunity for the profitable exercise of his 
 talents. 
 
 His beautiful face, his noble figure and his chi- 
 
 et terra Normaiiniae communes fuerint, June 15, 1232. Sliirley 
 i. 407. 
 
 * Quod exitus terrae que de honore Leicestria usque in 
 iiii annum post obitum ejus (the father's; sint ad acquietationem 
 debitorum suorum. Rot. Lit. Pat. 20 : Henr. III., membr. 4 ; 
 July 28, 1236. 
 
 t Chronica Albrici Monaclii Trium Fontium, Monum. 
 Germ. Hist. SS. xxiii. 940. Quidam macliinatores contra 
 regem Franciae clam procuraverant matrimonium comitissae 
 Flandriae cum viro nobili Symone de Monte Forti, fratre comitis 
 Almarici, qui Symon alienatus erat a Francia eo quod asset 
 suspectus in regis curia propter redditus quos habebat in AngHa 
 et fidelitatem quam Anglorum regi fecerat. Quapropter istud 
 matrimonium perdidit sicut et illud comitisse Bolonie perdi- 
 derat. 
 
THE HOUSE OF MONTFOE^Ld * ^«3 ^ v 
 
 valrous bearing,* no less than his very consio^T^ljlu "^^ 
 intellectual endowments, won him the love of Henry 
 III/s youngest sister, Eleanor, who was born in 12 15 and 
 in 1224 had been espoused to WiUiam Earl of Pem- 
 broke, the younger, when she was nine years old and he 
 forty ; but since the 15th of April, 1231, she had been 
 a widow.f Before Edmund of Canterbury and Bishop 
 Ralph of Chichester she had once vowed to take the 
 veil, J but this did not prevent the consent of even her 
 devout brother. King Henry, to the union that she 
 and Simon desired. The ring was not yet placed 
 upon her finger which would have sealed her as the bride 
 of Christ. On the 7th of January, 1238, the pair were 
 privately married in the royal chapel of St. Stephens, 
 the King himself leading the bride to her husband. § 
 When received into the council as Earl of Leicester, 
 
 -'' Vir in armis strenuus et armorum peritia calUdissimus. 
 Gull, de Nangaco. Reciieil, xx. 414. Sicut erat miles strenuus, 
 in corpora procerus et facie formosus. Chron. de Lanercost, p. 
 39 : Bannatyne Club. '^ 
 
 t Mrs. Green, Lives of the Princesses of England, ii. 4S, 57. 
 
 I Thomas Wykes, ed. Luard, Annales Monastic!, Rer. Biit. 
 medii sevi SS. iv. (1869) p. 65, under the year 1224, Quae viro 
 suo defuncto ahquamdiu permanens in viduitate, in praesentia 
 Sancti Edmundi Cantuariensis archiepiscopi et Sancti Ricardi 
 Cicestrensis episcopi solemne votuui castitatis emisit, cujus 
 postea prsevaricatrix efifecta, nupsit Simoni de Monteforti comiti 
 Leycestrife. 
 
 § Matthaeus Paris, 465, ed. 1640. In parvula capella Regis 
 quae est in angulo camerae, tradente earn Rege per manum eidem 
 Simoni. / 
 
34 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 and brotlier-iii-law of Henry III., Simon might have 
 acquired immediately a controlling influence upon 
 public affairs, had it not been that the ever wakeful 
 opposition of the Barons was aroused against this new 
 favourite, who was likewise an alien, whilst the clergy 
 took exception to the doubtful marriage. 
 
 It was impossible to conceal the latter event, and 
 both estates felt themselves to be deeply wronged, 
 because the princess had been given without their 
 consent to the foreign noble who had for some time 
 been an object of envy and jealousy. The King's 
 brother. Earl Richard of Cornwall, openly raised the 
 standard of revolt at the head of the nobility, seeking 
 to call the men of the Cinque Ports underarms.* The 
 majority of the Barons with the Earl Marshal Gilbert 
 at their head tumultuously demanded Simon's re- 
 moval j none listened to the mediation of the Papal 
 Legate, and when the King's court met during Lent, 
 
 * Prohibition addi-essed to them by Heniy, February 8, 1238 : 
 Eo quod tradidimus nuptui comitissam Pembrocliise sororem 
 nostram Simoni de Monte Forti. Sliirley, Royal Letters, ii. 15. 
 Matth. Paris, Historia Minor (Compendium of the Great Chro- 
 nicle), ed. SirF. Madden (Rerr. Brit. med. aevi SS.) ii. 404. 
 Commotum est regnum vehementer, eo maxime quod rex, praeter 
 suorum magnatum consilium et assensum prsesertim comitis 
 Ricardi, procuravit illud tam arduum matrimonium inter Simonem 
 de Monte -forti et Alienoram, contra etiam voluntatem et con- 
 silium sanctissimi archiepiscopi Edmundi, in cujus praesentia 
 dicitur ipsa Alienora votum fecisse continentise vidualis, vestibus 
 utens tinctura carentibus. Cf. Stubbs, Constitutional History of 
 England, ii. 55, 56. 
 
THE HOUSE OF MONTFORT. 35 
 
 and other grievances were brought under discussion, 
 it was decreed that Simon should remain excluded 
 from the royal council. A proposal of certain reforms 
 appeared to satisfy even his brother-in-law. Earl 
 Richard, but the scruples of the Church only grew the 
 more serious. If Eleanor had given but a preliminary 
 promise to remain single, her marriage was neverthe- 
 less a grave offence against canonical ordinances; none 
 but the Pope could subsequently release her from the 
 vow and pronounce pardon. 
 
 In March Simon set out for Rome, to avert the 
 threatened disgrace and displeasure. A rich citizen 
 of Leicester had advanced him 500 marks, the money 
 necessary for the Papal court.* On his way thither he 
 waited upon his great brother-in-law, Frederick II., 
 who had just won the battle of Cortenuova, and was 
 now ceaselessly striving to break the obstinate resist- 
 ance of the Lombard towns which were in league 
 against him. One would gladly know more about the 
 personal intercourse of these two men.f The brief mili- 
 
 *Matth. Paris, 468, Historia Minor, ii. 405, 406. The King's 
 safe conduct, dated the 27th of March. Rot. Lit, Pat., 22 Henr. 
 III., membr. 8. 
 
 f From Matth. Paris, without continental notices, it can only 
 be conjectured that Simon met the Emperor in May on the occa- 
 sion of the diet in Cremona, and', after leaving the Papal court, 
 did service at the siege of Brescia, like many other foreign nobles. 
 Compare Bohmer, Reg. Imp. 1198-1254, p. 179, 180. Schirr- 
 macher, Kaiser Friedrich der Zweite, iii. 28 et seq. Winckel- 
 mann, Geschichte Kaiser Friedrich's des Zweiten, ii. 94 et seq. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 tary service rendered by the adventurous knight to tlie 
 mighty ruler in his fruitless struggle against municipal 
 freedom was requited by commendations to the Pope, 
 which might still be serviceable at this time, before 
 the irreparable breach between Frederick and the 
 Vatican. On the 10th of May, Simon obtained the 
 wished-for dispensation from Gregory IX. ;* and, not- 
 withstanding the opposition of the Dominicans and 
 Archibishop Edmund, the Legate Otho was directed 
 to release Eleanor from her vow. Simon travelled 
 home joyfully, received an affectionate welcome 
 from King Henry on the 14th of October, and 
 then hastened to Kenilworth castle, where six weeks 
 later his wife bore him a son, an event hailed with 
 rejoicings at court where it was still feared that the 
 Queen would be childless. f On the 2nd of February, 
 1239, Montfort was at last formally installed in the 
 earldom of Leicester, and thereupon admitted among 
 the Barons of the realm and the counsellors of the 
 crown, t 
 
 * Super matrimonio, quod inter te ac nobilem virum S. de 
 Monte Forti Comitem Leicestrie (ac nobilem feminam E. filiam 
 regis Anglie) in facie ecclesie intelleximus esse contractum, 
 nobis et fratribus nostris sunt a diversis diversa relata, per que 
 non vidimus contra jam contractum matrimonium presumendum, 
 vi. Id. Mai. Double copy in Monum. Brit, ex autographis Rom. 
 Pont. Mus. Brit. MS. Add. 15, 354, p. 84. 
 
 f Matth. Paris, 471, 475, 481. 
 
 I Matth. Par. 483. Die vero Purificationis S. Virginis contulit 
 Dominus Rex comitatum Legriae Simoni de Monte Forti et in- 
 
THE HOUSE OF MONTFORT. 37 
 
 vestivit, vocato primo comite Almarico primogenito fratre ejus et 
 pacificato, ne super hoc aliquando moveret questionem. Rot. Cart. 
 23 Henr. III. 32, 34. Amaury's renunciation. Rymer i. 203. 
 dated an. 16 Henr. III. (123^), but certainly a later copy, for 
 Cardinal Otho (in England from 1237 to 1241) appears among 
 the witnesses. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 EARL SIMON OF LEICESTER ALTERNATELY IN 
 FAVOUR AND DISFAVOUR. 
 
 first ruptuee in 1239 the bishop of lincoln and 
 
 the franciscans crusade to palestine^ 1240 
 
 simon accompanies the king to guienne, 1242 — 
 
 oppression of england by the pope and king 
 
 Simon's retired life^ without participation in 
 
 politics he is made governor of ' guienne^ 
 
 1248 — the rebellious gascons and the intrigues 
 at court — simon in his need counselled by the 
 
 franciscans investigations and proceedings 
 
 against him, 1252 fresh breach with the 
 
 king the earl himself asserts his rights in 
 
 gascony henry iii. at bordeaux appeals to 
 
 him for help, 1258 — successful exertions of 
 his clerical friends. 
 
 The period of harmony and happiness did not last 
 long, for soon the Earl was driven anew by the Bang's 
 temper and the political circumstances of England and 
 Europe to an unsettled and adventurous life. 
 
ALTERNATIONS OF FAVOUR AND DISFAVOUR. 39 
 
 On tlie IGtli of June an heir to the throne^ Prince 
 Edward, was born at Westminster. He was baptised 
 by the Legate on the fourth day, Simon assisting at 
 the ceremony as godfather and Lord High Steward. 
 The atmosphere appeared perfectly calm, but when 
 the Queen was about to be solemnly churched in 
 London on the 9th of August, an angry outbreak sud- 
 denly occurred between the King and his brother-in- 
 law, without any palpable reason. Henry called Simon 
 an excommunicated person, and forbade him and his 
 wife to be present at the ceremony, because he had 
 once criminally consorted with her. Astounded, and 
 overwhelmed with abuse, the Earl and Countess fled 
 across the river to Southwark, where the town palace 
 of the late Bishop of Winchester had been recently 
 assigned them as a residence. But the King com- 
 manded them to be driven thence also, and remained 
 inexorable when they ventured to appear before him 
 in tears. " You seduced my sister before marriage,^' 
 he cried. '^ When I made the discovery I gave her 
 to you, to avoid scandal, sorely against my will. Then 
 you went to Rome to remove the impediment to mar- 
 riage, and with presents and endless promises you 
 bribed the Papal court to grant you the forbidden 
 thing. When this reached the ears of the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, he discovered the truth to the Pope ; 
 but before Romish greed the truth has no chance 
 against redoubled promises. Now that you cannot 
 pay, you have incurred excommunication ; and, to fill 
 the measure of your baseness, you have by means of 
 
40 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 false testimony made me surety without my knowledge 
 or advice/^ Rendered speechless by indignation, 
 Simon embarked the same day with his wife and a few 
 companions, and sailed down the Thames to seek re- 
 fuge for awhile in France.* 
 
 For more than a year Henry III. had regarded his 
 sister^s marriage with approval, he had publicly given 
 it his royal sanction, and forwarded the journey and 
 petition to Rome as far as he was able. But the 
 catastrophe did not result from his habitual fickleness, 
 neither was it occasioned by the factious proceedings 
 of the aristocracy, for in them Simon had hitherto 
 taken no part. The true cause lay rather in the deadly 
 enmity between Pope and Emperor which had just 
 broken out afresh,t for Frederick II. had been ex- 
 communicated on Palm Sunday, the 20th of March, 
 1239, and a threatening war cloud was gathering over 
 Rome. Though the English King looked up to his 
 imperial brother-in-law with admiration and awe, and 
 had sent him men and money during the previous 
 year,J he was now constrained to yield obedience to 
 the ecclesiastical power under whose guardianship he 
 stood. To the strict Papal party at court the Earl, 
 who but the year before had been so cordially re- 
 ceived and accredited by the Emperor, appeared an 
 inconvenient member of the royal council. It was 
 necessary to remove him by the basest means, and, with 
 
 * Matth.Par. 497. 
 
 f Biography in the Quarterly Review, cxix. p. 31. 
 
 X Matth. Paris, Historia Minor, ii. 408. 
 
ALTERNATIONS OF FAVOUR AND DISFAVOUR. 41 
 
 lamentable weakness, tlie King lent his aid, accusing 
 the relative, whom he had hitherto treated with marked 
 affection, of involving himself in a dishonourable money 
 transaction, and forcing the Princess to become his 
 wife by previous seduction. These accusations are 
 not only falsified by the King^s whole deportment, but 
 also there is not the slightest indication that the Papal 
 dispensation granted the year before had been now sud- 
 denly revoked. A contemptible fiction was seized 
 upon to screen a political necessity. In 1232 a device, 
 as gross and shameless but obviously the same, had 
 helped to ruin the venerable Hubert, Earl of Kent, 
 who was said to have necessitated his marriage with 
 Margaret, daughter of the Scotch King, by previously 
 dishonouring her.* 
 
 That a prince should so insult his own sister appears 
 incredible, yet it was in accordance with the feebleness 
 of his character, with the influences that surrounded 
 him, and the spirit of the age. That Eleanor followed 
 her husband spoke loudly for their innocence, and a 
 yet clearer proof was the friendship and testimony of 
 one of the noblest men in England, with whom the 
 pair were already intimately connected. 
 
 Robert Grosseteste, a native of Suffolk, of humble 
 birth, had risen to the highest dignities of the Church 
 and made himself illustrious as a pious and zealous 
 pastor, as a scholar and as Chancellor of the Univer- 
 sity of Oxford. He was more than all these, for 
 among the English clergy there was no one who so 
 * Compare Gesch. v. England, ill. p. 596. 
 
42 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 fully understood tlie constructive and destructive 
 tendencies of the age^ no one who watched more 
 faithfully over discipline and doctrine among priests 
 and laity, and no more courageous champion when the 
 rights of the national Church were to be defended 
 against the avarice of the court of Rome and the 
 tyranny of the crown. Mainly through his help the 
 Franciscan friars were rapidly naturalized in this 
 country, founding theological chairs in the universi- 
 ties, and developing their peculiar mission in spite of 
 opposition from the secular clergy and the monas- 
 teries. He was convinced that the moral want of the 
 time could be best supplied by means of their zeal for 
 reform ; and in alliance with them he strove himself by 
 word and pen and undaunted action to save the souls 
 and confirm the minds of men and to defend the 
 right. He had already been brought into connection 
 with the house of Leicester, when he was archdeacon 
 of that town.* In 1235 he was raised to the bishopric 
 of Lincoln, and thenceforth administered the widest 
 and most populous diocese in the kingdom. It ex- 
 tended over a considerable part of central England, 
 
 * Grosseteste's letter to Margarita de Quincy, Comitissa Win- 
 toniae, is correctly attributed by Luard to the year 1231, Roberti 
 Grosset. Epistolae, 1861 (Rerr. Brit. med. sevi S.S.) p. xxxv. 
 p. 33, for Robert was Archdeacon of Leicester until 1232; but 
 the Dominus Leicestriensis, against whom the Jews of the town 
 were protected, was not Simon of Montfort, but Ralf of Chester. 
 Upon Grosseteste generally, see Pauli, Tiibinger programme of 
 the year 1864, p. 11, et seq. 
 
ALTERNATIONS OF FAVOUR AND DISFAVOUR. 43 
 
 and included Oxford^ with the parent house of the 
 Franciscans, and also those lordships which, after 
 many changes, had again been assigned to a member 
 of the house of Montfort. 
 
 Simon and his wife, both ardent and sincere in 
 temper, had from the first given heed to the warning 
 and advice of this spiritual guide.* A genuine 
 friendship grew up and resulted in a connection 
 between the Earl and the Franciscan order, as re- 
 markable as that once existing between his illustrious 
 father and the scarcely established Dominicans. This 
 source of consolation did not fail when the husband 
 and wife were abandoned by their own kindred, and 
 driven from the country in shame and distress. In 
 replying to Simon's written account of the heavy 
 trial that had come upon him, the Bishop quoted the 
 apostle's words of comfort : ^^ No chastening for the 
 present seemeth .to be joyous, but grievous ; never- 
 theless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of 
 righteousness unto them which are exercised there- 
 by.^' He reminded him of the fruits which would 
 not fail to follow, and pointed out the noble meaning 
 
 * The letters of the Bishop are without dates, as was then 
 well-nigh universal. His earnest intercession with Simon, in 
 Christo carissimo domino de Monteforti, for one of these too 
 harshly punished townsmen of Leicester, Luard, p. 141, must 
 belong approximately to the year 1238. It breathes all the 
 earnest conviction of the writer : Quia igitur vestram ingenuita- 
 tem brachiis caritatis arctius amplectimur. . . . ut sitis exemplum 
 dementias et mansuetudinis et non magister crudelitatis. 
 
44 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 of his family name with an inclination to dwell upon 
 the etymology of words which often appears in his 
 writings. From the deep depression that he now 
 suffered he would climb to the summit of the strong 
 mountains whereon Christ is enthroned.* Lastly, he 
 promised, in accordance with the EarPs request, to 
 think much of him, to intercede for him with the 
 King, and faithfully to comfort his dependants, 
 especially two who had been commended to his 
 peculiar care. In these and all other matters he was 
 ready to do whatever would, as he hoped, tend to his 
 friend's honour and advantage. 
 
 Thus the stern and zealous prelate, the best and 
 noblest of his order, not only held the Earl and 
 Countess guiltless, but also used every means in his 
 power to bring about a reconciliation with the King, 
 and probably with the Pope and his representatives 
 likewise. It was chiefly through his intercession that 
 the breach was quickly healed. Simon returned at 
 the beginning of April, 1240, and the King vouch- 
 safed him an honourable reception at court.f The 
 pregnancy of the Countess had caused her to remain 
 behind in France. 
 
 Immediately upon his return, Simon commenced 
 preparations for a crusade to Palestine, providing him- 
 self with money by the sale of woods and lands. The 
 
 * In cacmnen montis fortis, hoc est Christi, qui est mons in 
 vertice montium et virtus Dei Patris ; Luard, p. 244, a. 1239. 
 
 I Calend AprUis . . . receptus est cum lionore a rege et a 
 regalibus. Matth. Paris, 516. 
 
ALTERNATIONS OF FAVOUR AND DISFAVOUR. 45 
 
 undertaking could scarcely be a consequence of the 
 recent quarrel, for nothing indicates that he intended 
 by this means to propitiate those who censured his 
 marriage. Grosseteste would not urge such a course, 
 nor the Minorites, for they, with an almost methodistic 
 system of self-examination, held that penance consists 
 rather in turning away from all sinful living than in 
 performing outward works. It is more probable that 
 he, like other great barons of the realm, had an earlier 
 crusading vow to fulfil. The Pope some years before 
 had granted a dispensation to him, and the Earls, 
 Richard of Cornwall and William of Salisbury, the 
 more willingly because the expedition then commanded 
 to the east was calculated simply to further Hohen- 
 staufen interests, and was therefore regarded with 
 extreme disfavour at Rome, even before the breach 
 with the Emperor.* Latterly the Curia had been 
 zealously exhorting everywhere to a crasade against 
 Constantinople. But a host of English nobles, headed 
 by the King's brother, were now of another mind ; to 
 them Simon joined himself; they started between 
 Ascension and Whitsuntide, journeyed through France, 
 and embarked on the Mediterranean for Acre, where 
 they expected to arrive in the autumn. The army, 
 led by Earl Richard, found the remnant of the little 
 Christian State miserably disorganized in consequence 
 
 * Immiiiet eidem regno periculum, si tuo auxilio et consilio 
 hoc presertiin relinquitur tempore destitutum. Gregory IX. to tlie 
 tliree earls, V. Kal. Mart. 1238, MS. Add. Mus. Brit. 15,354, 
 p. 399. 
 
46 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 of the heavy losses which its army had just suffered 
 at Gaza^ on the 13th November^ from the superior 
 force of the Egyptian Sultan. Among many nobles 
 of Western Europe, Count Amaury of Montfort, was 
 there taken prisoner by the Mohammedans.* How 
 far Simon took part in his brother^s deliverance, and 
 in what manner he otherwise distinguished himself in 
 the Holy Land, is nowhere narrated. It is certain 
 that he was in the English crusading army, and that 
 his wonted spirit and judgment attracted attention in 
 the east, for on the 7th of June, 1241, the barons, 
 knights, and citizens of the kingdom of Jerusalem 
 petitioned Frederick II. to appoint the Earl of 
 Leicester vicegerent of Palestine during the mino- 
 rity of King Conrad. t But Simon returned to 
 England about this time. The Earl of Cornwall had 
 left Palestine on the 3rd of May, and during the 
 summer he landed at Trapani, visited his sister, the 
 empress, in Sicily, and afterwards her husband, on the 
 continent. J If Simon, the other brother-in-law, took 
 the same route he would probably be present on this 
 occasion, perhaps himself bearing the petition from 
 
 * ClironicaAlbrici Monachi Trium Fontiiun in Mon. Germ. Hist. 
 SS. xxiii, 948. Cf.Wilkins, History of the Crusades, vi. 604 ei seq. 
 
 f M.S. Cotton. Vespas. F. I., quoted by Hudson Turner, 
 Manners and Household Expenses, etc., p. xix. Quil nos baut a 
 bail mon su-e Simon de Montfort Conte de Leicestre jusqe alage 
 de nostre seignor le Roi Conrad. 
 
 I Matth. Par. 568. The meeting took place at the end of June 
 in Temi or before Rieti. Bolmier, Reg. Imp. 1198-1254, p. 190. 
 Schirrmacher, Kaiser Friedrich der Zweite, iii. 224. 
 
ALTERNATIONS OF FAVOUR AND DISFAVOUR. 47 
 
 Jerusalem. Their father's name may have made 
 participation in a crusade incumbent upon the Mont- 
 forts j but the Earl of Leicester's adventurous spirit 
 was no more captivated by the idea of oriental glory 
 than his father had been by the prospect of taking 
 part in the conquest of Constantinople. The elder 
 Simon yielded implicit obedience to the prohibition of 
 the great Pope ; the younger_, on the other hand, was 
 not in the best repute with the Curia, and repeatedly 
 became involved in the policy of the mighty Hohen- 
 staufen Emperor. Even during this expedition his 
 eyes could not fail to be opened afresh to the growing 
 opposition to the temporal power of the Papacy. 
 
 It may be inferred that during these years his 
 personal fate was determined by the alternate pre- 
 dominance of imperial and Papal influence at the 
 Court of Westminster. After his return from the 
 crusade, he retained Henry's favour the more easily 
 because the death of the aged Gregory IX. (August 
 21st, 1241), was followed by an interregnum of nearly 
 two years, excepting only the three weeks of Celestin 
 IV.'s pontificate, and this vacancy of the Holy See 
 left its trace even on the domestic policy of England. 
 When no longer watched over by a legate. King 
 Henry was compelled to be the more on his guard 
 against the demands of the estates. He now sought 
 to raise a barrier against them by systematically 
 promoting his wife's grasping kindred. The situation 
 was not one in which he could cherish personal ani- 
 mosity against the Earl of Leicester, who, as a 
 
48 SIMON DE MONT FORT. 
 
 foreigner, was liimself likewise obnoxious to many 
 of the nobles. Moreover, his dynastic ambition, 
 zealously encouraged by favourites, plunged him into 
 a foreign war, and it was obviously desirable to be 
 on friendly terms with two of his brothers-in-law, 
 Frederick II. and Earl Simon. 
 
 The King of France, Louis IX., had gradually 
 extended his power over the provinces south of the 
 Loire, and at last installed his brother Alphonso as 
 Count of Poitou. This measure was felt bitterly as a 
 challenge, and as a disgraceful insult to the crusading 
 Earl of Cornwall, who still bore at least the title of a 
 Count of Poitou ; moreover, after some hesitation, 
 the neighbouring Count de la Marche, step -father of 
 the royal brothers, came forward as a partisan of the 
 Plantagenet claims, and by his intrigues and the 
 suggestion of assistance from Toulouse and Aragon, 
 he inflamed the passion for military glory at West- 
 minster. War was at once determined upon; the 
 unsuccessful expedition to Britanny, in 1230, and the 
 present truce with France seemed wholly forgo ttea. 
 Towards the end of January, 1242, the king sum- 
 moned all the magnates of the realm to London to 
 discuss urgent business of State, but, as he would 
 grant no concessions, they drew up an energetic pro- 
 test and refused his demand for a subsidy.* Even 
 
 "i" The writ omnibus episcopis, abatibus, comitibus et baronibus 
 in Reports from the Lords' Committee touching the dignity of a 
 Peer, iii. p. 7, a die Sti. Hilarii in 15 dies ad tractandum nobis- 
 cum . . . de arduis negotiis nostris, statum nostrum et totius regni 
 
ALTERNATIONS OF FAVOUR AND DISFAVOUR. 49 
 
 tlierL Henry adhered obstinately to his purpose, and 
 succeeded at least in extorting money from some in- 
 dividual barons, abbots, and priors, and compelling a 
 considerable number of the former to accompany him 
 in person. 
 
 In May he embarked on his ill-considered voyage 
 to the Garonne, accompanied by the Queen, his 
 brother, seven earls, and three hundred knights. He 
 first encamped northward in Saintes, summoned the 
 warlike nobility of his domains in Southern France to 
 appear under arms, and even sent for troops from 
 Ireland and Wales. On the 22nd of July the English 
 were unable to prevent the passage of the Charente, 
 at Taillebourg, by Louis' army, and they were defeated 
 in battle because the Poitevins, who had invited them 
 to cross the Channel, went over to the enemy with 
 Hugh de la Marche at their head. Much valuable 
 booty fell into the' hands of the French. The English 
 army would have been annihilated and the King taken 
 prisoner if the Earls of Leicester, Salisbury, and Nor- 
 folk had not valiantly covered the retreat to the 
 Garonne.* The Court afterwards remained for a 
 
 nostri specialiter tangentibus. Matth. Par. 579, die Martis prox. 
 ante Purif. B. Virginis (January 28). Compare Grescliichte von 
 England, iii. 647 and Stubbs' Constit. History, ii. 58-60. 
 
 * Henry III.'s report to the Emperor Frederick, Rytner, i. 
 206, Sept. 19 ; but the year 1232 is an error. The date appears 
 from the Rot. Vascon. 26 Henry III. membr. 5, of which, imfor- 
 tunately, only a few sheets have been printed, but never 
 pubHshed. Matth. Par. 591-596. 
 
60 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 considerable time at Bordeaux^ and the good under- 
 standing between the King and Simon was confirmed^ 
 in spite of the hostile influences which the Count of 
 Toulouse and the King of Aragon constantly sought 
 to exercise against the house of Montfort. The King 
 repeatedly made provision for his entertainment,, and 
 as counsellor he ranked only second to Earl Kichard. * 
 After Richard and most of the other nobles had 
 returned to England, where the estates again obsti- 
 nately refused to defray the expenses of the war, 
 Simon maintained his confidential position in a country 
 which had once lain within the circle of his father's 
 conquests, and where the self-governing fiefs had since 
 those days been relieved from all the restraints of a 
 centralizing government. He made use of the time to 
 observe keenly the party tactics of the nobles, the 
 position of the towns, the relation of the English 
 crown to these untrustworthy vassals, and the con- 
 stantly changing temper of the people. Henry 
 embarked for England in September, 1243, after 
 concluding a truce for five years with France. The 
 whole of Poitou was surrendered ; but, for the present, 
 at least, he secured the Duchy of Guienne. Simon 
 probably followed the king home, and the custody of 
 Kenilworth Castle was soon afterwards committed to 
 him, doubtless as a sign of royal favour. The ^arl and 
 
 * Quingentas marcas de dono nostro, July 2 ; quinquaginta 
 marcas de annuo feodo, Sept. 8. Evidence at the investiture of 
 one of Richard's vassals, Aug. 3, Rot. Vascon. 26 Henry III. 
 membr. 2, 3, 11. 
 
ALTERNATIONS OF FAVOUR AND DISFAVOUR. 51 
 
 Countess had already resided there, and a few years 
 later it was granted to the latter for life.* 
 
 For several years Simon remained a silent spectator 
 of the growing evils of the King's misgovemment. 
 The prelates, earls, and barons summoned to West- 
 minster in 1244, made another fruitless effort to pro- 
 mote worthier appointments to the high offices of 
 State, and a more frugal administration of the ex- 
 chequer. At the time when Pope Innocent IV. 
 undertook the life and death struggle with the 
 Hohenstaufen Emperor, and the Church, as well as the 
 princes and peoples of the west, were stunned by the 
 world-shaking transactions at Lyons, Henry III. 
 was again more willingly than ever under tjie direction 
 of Rome ; but, in proportion as he yielded to it in his 
 weakness, the quarrel with his own vassals acquired 
 greater intensity. The clergy were indignant at the 
 boundless demands of the Papal court. Extremely 
 ingenious in the invention of provisions, taxes, and 
 perquisites, and in conferring foreign benefices upon 
 insatiable Italians, it had just discovered in England 
 an inexhaustible source of wealth and a means of 
 meeting the enormous cost of the great war. The 
 nobles saw with growing anger that lay rapacity kept 
 pace with this clerical system. The queen's uncle. 
 Archbishop Boniface, was joined, as occasion served, 
 by his brothers. Amadous, the reigning Count of 
 Savoy, and Thomas. A fourth, Peter, established him- 
 
 * Rot. Lit. Pat. 28 Henry III. membr. 8, Febr. 13, 1244 ; 
 32 Henry III. membr. 11, Jan. 9, 1248. 
 
 E 3 
 
52 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 self firmly in England^ and conducted negotiations 
 with tlie courts of Lyons and Paris in the interest of 
 the dynasty, without regard to that of the nation. 
 Unlike the earlier Plantagenets, Henry was not with- 
 out sentiments of piety; and when his mother Isabella 
 died, in 1246, he interested himself zealously on 
 behalf of his numerous step-brothers and sisters. Two 
 of them were altogether provided for in England, to 
 the constant vexation of the native nobility. The 
 elder, William of Yalence, an arrogant and voluptuous 
 knight of the Proven9al type, caused the earldom of 
 Pembroke to be assigned him ; for Aimar, the second, 
 no benefice was accounted rich enough until he was 
 appointed to the noble bishopric of Winchester, even 
 before he had reached the canonical age. 
 
 Amid such oppressions and spoliations the opposi- 
 tion which had long existed naturally grew stronger. 
 The Church repeatedly made complaint to the Pope 
 himself through the mouth of procurators; and the 
 courageous Bishop of Lincoln, who at home never forgot 
 his office and vocation before high or low, went twice 
 to Lyons that he might appeal personally to the con- 
 science of the Holy Father. Grosseteste always pre- 
 served an independence which, while it was eccle- 
 siastically blameless, by its national character recalled 
 the memory of Stephen Langton. He also saw in free 
 discussion and the decisions of the great council of the 
 realm the only legitimate means of inducing the 
 sovereign to consider his position. And at this time 
 the importance of the almost periodical assemblies. 
 
ALTERNATIONS OF FAVOUR AND DISFAVOUR. 53 
 
 already called parliaments,"^ steadily increased. The 
 spiritual and temporal lords protested more and more 
 fiercely from year to year against the shameless avarice 
 of the Papal court, and the long-standing national 
 grievances. For wasteful expenditure they desired to 
 substitute carefully regulated finances, under the 
 superintendence of the chief tax-payers ; instead of 
 the crowds of foreign favourites and low-born officials, 
 they desired to see great State functionaries appointed 
 by agreement between the King and his tenants-in 
 chief, lay and clerical. 
 
 For five years the Earl of Leicester watched these 
 profitless proceedings without joining any party ; he 
 was untroubled in his personal relations, and happy in 
 his family. His wife had already borne him three 
 sons j the two elder were seen accompanying their 
 parents to one or another famous abbey at the time of 
 the Easter solemnities, when he shared in the worship 
 of the monks, and thanked them in princely wise for 
 their princely hospitality .f United in closest friend- 
 
 * First officially Rot. Lit. Glaus. 28 Henry III. membr. 13, 
 1244. Parliamentum Runemede quod fuit inter Dom. Johannem 
 Regem patrem nostrum et Barones suos AnglisB. Cf. Ann. de 
 Dunstaplia, 164, a. 1244. Further Mattli. Par. 696, a. 1246 con- 
 venit ad parliamentum generalissimum. Cf. Gescliichte von 
 England, iv. 668 ; Gneist, Gescliichte und heutige Gestalt der 
 Aemter und des Verwaltungsrechts in England, 2nd edition, 1866, 
 i. 293, and for the parliaments from 1244 to 1248, Stubbs' Const. 
 Hist. ii. 61-66. 
 
 I On tlie visit to Waverley, in Sussex, on Palm Sunday, 1245, 
 Annales Waverl. Luard, Annales Monastici (Rer. Brit. med. sevi 
 
54 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 ship to the Bishop of Lincoln and the Bishop^s trusty 
 friend, Adam of Marsh, the learned Franciscan teacher 
 at Oxford/ he confided to them* all his anxieties con- 
 cerning the widening schism between the King and 
 the estates, and the position of the Church, threatened 
 as it was by the secularising tendencies of the age. 
 Already Adam acquired the position of father- confessor 
 at the Earl^s court, in small things as in great. A 
 zealous correspondent, he was the medium of episto- 
 lary intercourse between the friends. When the 
 Bishop's cook died, he begged Eleanor to choose a fit 
 successor from among her domestics. f But soon the 
 pastor was charged with graver commissions. 
 
 In 1248 the King determined upon sending the Earl 
 of Leicester to Gascony, but not with the object of 
 ridding himself of him, for at this time they were on 
 the most friendly terms with one another. So lately 
 as the preceding October, Simon had returned from a 
 mission to the French court, the object of which was 
 to prolong and confirm the truce concluded five years 
 
 SS.) ii. 830. In the year 1263 Simon was admitted by the prior 
 of Dunstaple into the brotherhood. Aim. de Dunst. Luard, Ann, 
 Monast. iii. 226. 
 
 *Ipsius consiHo tractabat ardua, tentabat dubia, finivit incho- 
 ata, ea maxime, per qiise meritum sibi succrescere sestimabat. 
 Will. Eishanger, continuator of Matth. Paria^ed. Riley, Rer. Brit, 
 mod. sevi SS. 36. 
 
 t Ipsa autem non tantum de beneplacito vestro non est molest- 
 ata, etc. Adam de Marisco to Bishop Robert, Brewer, Monumenta 
 Franciscana, p. 170, Rerr. Brit. med. aevi SS. 1858. Adam's 
 letter are collected in a codex, but all are undated. 
 
ALTERNATIONS OF FAVOUR AND DISFAVOUR. 55 
 
 earlier. He liad been present at the February parlia- 
 ment, and bad heard the tumultuous demands that the 
 offices of justiciary, chancellor, and treasurer should 
 be conferred upon such men as the estates could 
 approve, but he had taken no part in the violent oppo- 
 sition. Inspired, like some others, by a flickering 
 outburst of enthusiasm, he had just taken the cross, 
 with his wife and their whole family,* but this could 
 not prevent his compliance when the King called upon 
 ■ him to accept an eminently arduous and responsible 
 post for the long term of six years,t conferring upon 
 him the high rank of viceroy (locum tenens), instead 
 of the ordinary title of seneschal. After he had com- 
 pleted the necessary preparations, in other words, had 
 borrowed money from the London citizens, he has- 
 tened in October to Bordeaux, travelling through 
 France, where the government appeared to give but a 
 hesitating assent to the proposals of peace from Eng- 
 land. 
 
 The position of afiairs in the duchy was more peri- 
 lous than before. The ever-restless native nobility 
 defied the authority of the Plantagenets under the 
 leadership of the powerful Vicomte Gaston de Beam, 
 whose artful mother had obtained considerable grants 
 from Henry III. in 1242, From the south. King 
 Theobald of Navarre pressed upon the disordered pro- 
 
 * Matth. Paris, 739, 742. 
 
 fRot. Lit. Pat. 32 Henr. III., membr. 2, Sept. 7, 1248. Matth. 
 Par. 838, Confecit ei chartam suam de custodia per sex annos 
 continuanda. 
 
56 SIMON BE MONTFOET. 
 
 vince, whilst,, even in spite of the peace, the progress 
 of the French monarchy made itself constantly felt on 
 the north. Also, the internal confusion in England 
 produced an effect even here ; for the government and 
 seneschals were incessantly changed, according to the 
 King's caprice, and greatly to the injury of all conti- 
 nuity in political and financial affairs. Already a 
 hostile faction in the towns was considering the expe- 
 diency of transferring the source of their wealth, the 
 exportation of wine, from England to Spain. Simon's 
 actual task was to avert the immediate loss of Aqui- 
 taine, the province which Eleanor of Poitou had 
 brought to the English crown a century before. He 
 devoted himself to it with such promptitude and energy 
 that, after Gaston had been brought to submission, the 
 unruly knights of the duchy became mindful of their 
 fealty, and the King of Navarre acquiesced in the de- 
 cision of an umpire upon certain boundary disputes.* 
 The Earl caused universal astonishment by arriving at 
 court in December, with proofs of the complete pacifi- 
 cation of the province, and received the thanks of the 
 sovereign in due form.f 
 
 In February, 1249, he returned to the south, and 
 whilst at Paris, where he had important commissions to 
 discharge, he addressed a remarkable letter to the King, 
 
 * Rymer, i. 269, Feb. 6, 1249. 
 
 f Grates vobis referimus copiosas de sollicitudine nee non et 
 laboribus immensis, negotiis nostris terras nostras Wasconias 
 vigilanter a virilitate vestra multotiens impensis. Rymer i. 271. 
 Cf. Matth. Paris, 767, 767. 
 
ALTERNATIONS OF FAVOUR AND DISFAVOUR. 57 
 
 the only one that is preserved from his pen. It de- 
 scribes the condition of Gascony^ and gives a first 
 glimpse of the difficulties of his position between the 
 rebels of southern France and the busy intrigues of 
 the English court. He* states^ that during the recent 
 disorders many Gascon noblemen had forfeited their 
 property ; it could never be restored to them by the 
 authorised tribunals of the country _, and, according to 
 the latest tidings from Bordeaux, they and their ad- 
 herents had sworn to regain it by force. A revolt 
 might be confidently expected towards Whitsuntide, 
 and Simon would be exposed to great personal danger ; 
 for, as representative of the rights of the crown and of 
 the common people, he was hated by the nobility of 
 the country. t Before he proceeded thither, the King 
 must therefore furnish him with fresh instructions, and, 
 above all, with indispensable military supplies, for 
 not a penny from the revenues of the country was at 
 his disposal; they were absorbed by the imposts of 
 the French King. Moreover, an ordinary army and 
 ordinary generalship would avail little against a people 
 who, like robbers or free-lancers, fell upon the enemy, 
 and destroyed his property in numerous troops of 
 twenty, thirty, or forty men. For all these reasons, 
 Simon urgently desired to have another interview with 
 
 * Donnee a Paris la veille de Pasques (April 8). Although the 
 signature is lacking, no one but Simon can have written the letter. 
 Shirley, Royal Letters, ii. 52. 
 
 f Por ce que je sui si mauvoleu de les graunz genz de la terre, 
 por ce que je sostien voz dreitures et de la poure genz centre aus. 
 
68 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 the King before proceeding southward ; all the more 
 because Henry would hear various dark accusations, 
 implying that his brother-in-law was himself the in- 
 stigator of the apprehended revolt. The most neces- 
 sary provisions had been already made for the royal 
 castles and garrisons on the Garonne, and the Earl's 
 negotiations with the Paris parliament took a favour- 
 able course, he therefore crossed the Channel once 
 more, chiefly for the purpose of counteracting the 
 effect which the expected machinations of his enemies 
 might produce upon the fickle-tempered King. 
 
 After having thus, as he believed, secured his ground 
 at home, he defeated Gaston and his accomplices a 
 second time during the summer, and sent them pri- 
 soners to London. He followed up this success by 
 planting strong posts all over the country, and the 
 King appeared to signify his approval by granting him 
 the Irish revenues and the proceeds of a great sale 
 from the royal wine stores, to enable him to complete 
 the security of Gascony.* But by the very messenger 
 who brought these welcome communications, the King 
 announced to his viceroy that he had set free the 
 Yicomte de Beam and the Knight Arnauld de Hasta, 
 and permitted them to return home, because they had 
 penitently submitted, and sworn eternal loyalty. f 
 Either from wilful folly, or malevolence instigated by 
 others, Henry himself broke in upon his deputy's 
 vigorous work. In 1250, but not till then, Simon took 
 
 * Patents of 28th Nov. and 28th Dec. Shirley, ii. 55, 56. 
 f Shirley, ii. 56, 57, Dec. 27, 28. Cf. Matth. Paris, 775. 
 
ALTERNATIONS OF FAVOUR AND DISFAVOUR. 59 
 
 Egremont, Gaston's strongest castle, subdued another 
 dangerous rebel, the Yicomte de Fronzac, and extorted 
 due respect from the haughty guilds of Bordeaux, who 
 had likewise assumed a hostile attitude towards him. 
 On the other hand, there was no lack of testimony 
 to his integrity ; the citizens of Castel d'Uza repre- 
 sented to the King that they had first obtained a 
 hearing from the Earl of Leicester in an old suit 
 against the Lord of Tartas, to which former English 
 governors had always turned a deaf ear.* 
 
 Nevertheless, the Earl was overwhelmed with diffi- 
 culties. Guienne was widely separated from its Duke 
 by the channel and the entire kingdom of France, and 
 it was still well-nigh impossible to retain it in face of 
 the spirit of unbridled independence. The supplies 
 furnished by the crown were instantly consumed, like 
 a drop of water upon burning stone, and Simon had 
 long been unable to maintain his position without 
 drawing upon his own private resources. He caused 
 his English forests to be felled, and devoted the pro- 
 ceeds and the revenues of the fief of Unfranville, which 
 he held in wardship, to the payment of his troops, and 
 the support of the fortresses he had been obliged to 
 erect. It is possible that he aggravated the difficulty 
 of his undertaking by excessive severity, either de- 
 
 * Hanc veritatem et querelam ostendimus multis ballivorum 
 vestrorum, qui nullum ibidem consilium posuerunt, donee per 
 Dei gratiam Dominus Simon de Monte Forti, Comes Leicestriae, 
 venit in Vasconiam cui lianc veritatem ostendimus et querelam. 
 Shirley, ii. 58. 
 
60 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 signedly or because tlie faithlessness of the race he 
 was trying to subdue filled him with indignation. But 
 the Prince whose sovereign rights he had undertaken 
 to defend did most to ruin his work. For after Gaston 
 and his comrades were set free, they artfully contrived 
 to keep the way open to Henry's suspicious ear, whilst 
 they renewed the rebellion at home, as if it were 
 directed against the viceroy alone. To defend his 
 cause against them, and to induce the King's govern- 
 ment to grant more continuous support, the Earl of 
 Leicester had made another visit to England in the 
 winter. He appeared before the King at the feast of 
 Epiphany, 1251, reminded him of his own experiences 
 among the southern French in 1242, and pressed for 
 supplies of men and money. The characteristic reply 
 was, " By God's Head, thou speakest truth, sir Earl ; 
 and since thou servest me so doughtily, I will not deny 
 thee sufficient help. But grave complaints have 
 reached me that thou hast thrown into prison, or even 
 put .to death, people who came to thee peacefully, or 
 whom thou hadst thyself summoned." Simon replied 
 that the notorious treachery of his accusers must prove 
 their falsehoods, and the King complied with his wishes 
 so far as to renew his authority, and grant him 3000 
 marks. The Earl added moneys of his own, and levied 
 several hundred Brabant soldiers.* 
 
 It was during this brief sojourn that Simon made 
 some remarkable regulations for the conduct of 
 his household affairs, and again rejoiced in a free 
 *Mattli. Paris, 779. 
 
ALTERNATIONS OF FAVOUR AND DISFAVOUR. 61 
 
 interchange of thouglit with, his trusted friends. The 
 Bishops of Lincoln and Worcester,, the two Francis- 
 cans Adam of Marshy and Gregory of Bosell, were his 
 frequent guests.* By word and by pen they 
 discussed the " signs of the times/^ and such 
 stupendous events as the death of the great Hohen- 
 staufen Emperor, Louis IX.'s disaster at Mansura, 
 the desperate condition of the Holy Land, and the 
 growing grievances in Church and State, as well as the 
 BarPs personal trials. f The devoted Adam probably 
 found in the duties of his Oxford lectureship an 
 excuse for tarrying long at Kenilworth; he learnt 
 to his great joy, upon trustworthy authority, that 
 the King and Queen, Earl Richard, and other 
 distinguished nobles and prelates again showed signs 
 of a more amicable disposition towards Simon. J The 
 same zealous friend and pastor was indefatigable as a 
 medium of communication, and found Simon's heart 
 always open to the religious and .world -regenerating 
 ideas of this reforming band. Eleanor wished this 
 time to accompany her husband to Gascony, and Adam 
 
 * The learned John of Basingstoke, who had studied in 
 Athens and understood Greek, was also one of tliis group. 
 Simon had to lament his death in 1252, gemitus et lachrymas 
 multiplicavit comitis memorati. Matfch, Paris, 835. 
 
 f It is difficult to arrange Adam's many letters, but I assign to 
 this date, Nos. 144 and 145 in Brewer's Monumenta Franciscana, 
 p. 276 et seq., as they can only have been addressed to Simon 
 whilst he was in England. 
 
 I Longe sereniorem solito, sit benedictus Deus pacis et 
 gilectionis, conceperunt benevolentiam. To Simon, No, 146. 
 
62 SIMON BE MONT FORT. 
 
 aided them in placing their young sons under 
 Robert Grosseteste^s care and training.* There is no 
 subsequent letter in which he does not report to 
 the parents of the children and their reverend 
 guardian. 
 
 Simon embarked early in spring, better equipped 
 than before, and a third time succeeded in quelling 
 the insurrection. Adam continued to send him 
 intelligence of passing events, and the disposition 
 of the court, mingled with judicious advice upon his 
 own conduct. When Simon gave himself up for lost, 
 driven, as he sometimes was to despair by the untrust- 
 worthiness of the King, who seemed to respect neither 
 the ties of blood nor his own plighted word, the 
 pious Franciscan not only pointed him to the con- 
 solatory books of the Old Testament, Job and 
 Proverbs, but would also narrate an encouraging 
 conversation with the King, whose confidence in the 
 EarFs integrity might be preserved unshaken, if those 
 who surrounded him did not prevent it.f The same 
 messenger, John de la Haye, an often-mentioned 
 servant of Simon^s, bore also a letter from Adam 
 to the Countess, reminding her that amid the cares, 
 conflicts, and expenditure in which her husband had 
 
 * Dominus Comes Leycestrige, si contingat eum maturius 
 redire in Vasconiam deliberatione cum domina comitissa et 
 mecum super hoc habita, proponit, etc. To Grosseteste, No. 25 ; 
 compare Rishanger, ed. Riley, 36 ; eique suos parvulos tradidit 
 nutriendos. 
 
 f Si m hac parte ipsum favorabiliter sua fulcirent latera. 
 
ALTERNATIONS OF FAVOUR AND DISFAVOUR, 63 
 
 involved hiiuself for the sake of preserving her 
 brother's possessions^ ic was for her to use her 
 influence with both to promote charity and calmly 
 considered measures.* The wish of the husband and 
 wife to have with them a father-confessor from the 
 brotherhood which they regarded with so much 
 afiection, was also a subject of discussion, but it 
 was dijBRcult to carry out the project. Bosell had 
 already prepared to undertake the journey, when 
 he was unfortunately prevented by work for the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury. Then again, there were 
 evil tidings in the form of a long letter of consolation, 
 with digressions upon the troublous condition of 
 Christendom and of England in particular. It told of 
 increased bitterness on the part of the King, evidently 
 consequent upon certain expressions of the EarPs, who 
 could with difficulty repress his proud and passionate 
 words, and was therefore exhorted to greater reticence, 
 " because the fooPs heart is in his mouth, but the wise 
 man's mouth is in his heart.'^f Another journey 
 to England was now deemed necessary, and the 
 faithful adviser constantly insisted, especially to 
 the Countess, upon the need for watchfulness and 
 
 * I associate Nos. 140 and 161, because tlie same messenger is 
 named in both, but Brewer, p. 297, would refer the latter letter to 
 1252. 
 
 t The long letter, No. 143, written after the 18th Oct. (1261), 
 when Adam relates that he had excited the King's anger by a 
 sermon. 
 
64 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 discretion.* After Simon had taken all such, pre- 
 cautions as were possible for the protection of his 
 fortresses^ he and his wife went in JSTovember through 
 France to London. The King would scarcely have 
 gone to welcome them if his step-brother^ Guy of 
 Lusignan, had not been one of the company .f 
 
 Meanwhile the Gascons were again in movement, 
 not only with arms in their hands, but also with 
 increasingly bitter complaints against the man who 
 could, if it were by any means possible, enforce among 
 them the restraints essential to public order. They 
 artfully described him as the worst traitor to the 
 crown, because he enriched himself by extorting their 
 property from nobles and citzens with unheard-of 
 violence, whilst the King, incessantly urged by the 
 Pope to undertake a crusade, was now helplessly 
 embarrassed.J When Simon complained that men 
 long convicted of malice and knavery received more 
 credence than he, the servant of the crown, the 
 King replied drily that, since he was conscious of 
 innocence, he could but desire an impartial investiga- 
 tion. He had come to seek further supplies, and 
 
 * De profectione vestra erga regnum Angliae cavendum est 
 omnino ne fiat sine magna dehberatione et provisione discreta. 
 Adam to Eleanor, No. 160. 
 
 f Matth. Paris, 810. 
 
 \ Letters of complaint from the corporation of La Reole and 
 the Vicomte Ila3niiond de Soule against Simon's administration, 
 and especially against his seneschal William Pigorel at the 
 earliest, Feb. 1252. Sliirley, ii. 72 et seq., compared with Matth. 
 Paris, 814. 
 
ALTERNATIONS OF FAVOUR AND DISmVAJUB Ql^^ ' ^ " 
 
 especially compensation for the very- 
 advances he had himself made. 
 
 On the 4th of January, 1252, eleven barons of high 
 rank, but some of them ill-disposed, were actually 
 appointed arbitrators to give judgment upon the 
 amount of his pecuniary claims.* But instead of 
 dealing fairly with him in this affair, Henry at the 
 same time nominated two commissioners, who were 
 sent to Gascony in order to institute formal pro- 
 ceedings against him. The two emissaries were the 
 Master of the Templars in England, Kocelin de Fos, 
 a Gascon by birth, and Henry of Wingham, who had 
 once himself been seneschal at Bordeaux and was now 
 one of the royal secretaries. f But the Englishman 
 and the Frenchman drew opposite conclusions from 
 their investigations, and though they were joined by 
 William of Valance, the King's malicious half-brother 
 and the head of the foreign party, the only result was 
 a written accusation drawn up by the knights and 
 some towns and fortified places of Guienne. It was to 
 be delivered at Westminster by a company of 
 distinguished delegates, with Archbishop Girald of 
 Bordeaux, a man of very doubtful loyalty, at their 
 head. The commissioners further put a stop to the 
 
 * Patent, Shirley, ii. 68. Likewise the Protectio quamdiu 
 fuerit in servicio regis in Vasconia. Rot. Lit. Pat. 36 Henry HI. 
 membr. 11, Febr. 22nd. 
 
 t Letter to Queen Blanche of France, an infringement of the 
 truce being also discussed, and authorization of January 6th. 
 Shirley, ii. 69, 70. 
 
 F 
 
66 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 struggle between Gaston and Simon^s troops around 
 the fortress of La Reole, and obtained a royal 
 command tliat Simon, who had hastily followed them 
 in order to prevent one-sided proceedings, should 
 appear in London at a prescribed date after Easter.* 
 It might be difficult for his accusers to prove indi- 
 vidual cases in which the harshness and tyranny 
 alleged against him had been exercised for his 
 own advantage, and not in the King^s service, yet the 
 current of adverse opinion was already so strong that 
 these accusers easily found a place among his judges. 
 They arrived in England at the same time as he, 
 and would have attacked him at once had it not been 
 necessary to await the report of a second commission 
 despatched by the King to the Garonne for the 
 purpose of collecting further evidence. It was 
 composed, like the first, of one Englishman and one 
 Gascon, Nicolas de Molis, who had likewise been 
 seneschal in 1244, and Drogo de Valentin. These 
 men brought back much testimony evidently favour- 
 able to the accused; and though Henry desired his 
 ruin and had just liberated one of his bitterest 
 enemies, .the unruly Arnaut of Egremont, he was 
 compelled to leave the course of justice free. In the 
 
 * Report of Fos and Wingham, erroneously referred to the 
 year 1253 by Champollion Figeac, Lettres de Rois, etc., i. 116. 
 Shirley, ii. 76, gives the correct date, March 6th, 1252. 
 Petition of the Gascons, Petunt quod dominus comes Leycestrise 
 presens sit in AngHa, etc. Letter No. 1604 in the Public Record 
 Ofl&ce. Henry's writ to Simon, March 23rd, a die Paschae 
 in unum mensem. Shirley, ii. 81 ; cf. Matth. Paris, 828, 832. 
 
ALTERNATIONS OF FAVOUR AND DISFAVOUR. 67 
 
 week between Ascension and Whitsuntide tlie proceed- 
 ings commenced; and the Earl of Leicester stood 
 opposed to his angry enemies before the assembled 
 Council of the realm.* 
 
 Simon read no friendly greeting in the King's face, 
 but only suppressed animosity. The Gascons, on the 
 other hand, were encouraged by the favour shown 
 them, and began with loud and violent complaints, 
 supporting them by references to the previous ad- 
 ministrations, which they described as rich in blessings 
 to the country. Simon in reply denied the credibility 
 of men who revolted against every kind of autho- 
 rity. The Earl of Cornwall had some years earlier 
 experienced the faithlessness of the same race, as 
 well as the inconstancy of the King, who had left hin* 
 also unsupported upon similar grounds, and to him 
 and to other previous governors, Simon appealed. The 
 defence produced a most favourable impression, not- 
 only upon sure friends like Bishop Walter of W^or- 
 cester, but also upon the most influential members of 
 the Council, as the Earls of Cornwall and Gloucester, 
 so that they showed themselves disposed to defend 
 the honour and the estates of their peer, whose justice 
 and disinterestedness were as unimpeachable as his 
 heroism. But they assisted him rather with good 
 will than with decisive words and deeds, and Simon 
 
 * Matth. Paris, 836 : Circa Pentecosten, paucis ante diebus; 
 compare Ann. de DunstapUa, 184. According to Adam's account 
 to Grosseteste: Circa festum ascenfiionis Domini (May 9th). 
 Brewer, Monum. Francisc. 123. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 was left practically alone in tlie task of proving by- 
 documents and witnesses the blamelessness of his 
 whole course of action, and showing that he had pro- 
 voked these accusations by seeking to bring to obedi- 
 ence a turbulent people who waged war against all 
 law and justice.* His enemies became more and 
 more embarrassed and entangled amid their own lies 
 during the many days occupied by single debates, and, 
 to the satisfaction of the prelates and barons, a decision 
 in vindication of slandered innocence was impending 
 when the King, wbo relapsed into personal abuse at 
 every opportunity, provoked his brother-in-law to an 
 unexampled quarrel. When reminded by the Earl of 
 the compensations which were due, and his own most 
 sacred promises, Henry said : " I am in nowise bound 
 to observe promises to a knave and traitor such as 
 thou, because thou hast withdrawn thyself from all 
 contracts.'^ Simon had hitherto controlled his im- 
 petuous temper with admirable moderation,t but now 
 he let loose his indignation, called the King a liar, and 
 said the hour when he spoke such words would have 
 been an evil one (mala hora) had not his diadem pro- 
 tected him. " Can one ever believe thee as a Chris- 
 
 * Nee Deum timentes, nee hominem reverentes, sine rege 
 sine lege agentes, foedera violantes, affectionem non eurantes . . . 
 idem comes studiis quibus valuit coercere curabat." Adam de 
 Marisco, I.e. 
 
 t Per omnia moderantiam mansuetiidinis cum magnanimitatis 
 maturitate et ad suum Dominum et ad adversaries suos obser- 
 vans. Ibid. 
 
ALTERNATIONS OF FAVOUR AND DISFAVOUR. 69 
 
 tian ? Hast thou ever confessed thy sins ? Or if thou 
 hast, was it with bruised and penitent heart ? *' To 
 which Henry replied with burning anger : " No act of 
 my Hfe do I repent so sorely as that I permitted thee 
 to come to England to win lands and honours and 
 grow fat and insolent/' He would have gladly caused 
 him to be seized and thrown into the Tower, but he 
 feared the assembled peers. They were able by their 
 intervention to moderate the indecorous character of 
 the proceedings, but they did not venture upon a 
 vigorous encounter with the monarch's habitual au- 
 tocratic caprice.* The King was base and revenge- 
 ful, but powerless to command ; Simon's energy was 
 proudly impatient of resistance, and collision between 
 them produced a violent explosion ; the scene left an 
 impression that seeds of mutual distrust sown years 
 before had borne their fruit, and that peace and re- 
 conciliation could never be established by ordinary 
 means between men whose natures were so antago- 
 nistic, especially because their outward position with 
 regard to one another was incongruous. 
 
 The King's caprice even prevented any decisive 
 result from the present contention. Simon prayed for 
 
 * Compare the scene in Matth. Paris, 857, with Adam, p. 127 : 
 Post noctis unius intervallum reditur ruptis loris sequitatis et 
 justitise contra comitem Leycestrise ad minarum saevitias : tu- 
 multuante regis iracundia. The Franciscan reports to Gros- 
 seteste the information which he received directly from the 
 Bishop of Worcester ; but the monk of St. Albans also frequently 
 had the testimony of eye-witnesses in writing the last years of 
 liis great chronicle. 
 
70 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 fresh equipment and the most complete authority to 
 terminate the war in Gascony, with the condition that 
 he and his followers should receive compensation for 
 their losses. On the other hand, he offered to resign 
 the post which had been conferred upon him for six 
 years if, under the guarantee of the great Council of 
 the realm, the same security were granted to him and 
 his against all loss, especially against prejudice to their 
 honour. The King would hear nothing of either pro- 
 position, and the Council preserved a cowardly silence, 
 whilst, by his own absolute authority, he issued &, 
 series of proclamations commanding both the con- 
 tending parties to keep the peace until he or his eldest 
 son should appear in Gascony at Candlemas. As 
 conservators of the truce, Kocelin de Fos and Nicolas 
 de Molis were commissioned to hold the enemies apart 
 during the interval j the town of Bordeaux was charged 
 to keep the peace, the wardens of the corporation 
 being elected in equal numbers from the two parties.* 
 In the judgment of well-disposed patriots f these were 
 senseless measures, well calculated to ruin the Earl, 
 but no less likely to issue in the loss of the province, 
 and to cost Henry the personal esteem of his sub- 
 jects. 
 
 Simon submitted to the King's decision in spite of 
 its imprudence, and after the course that matters had 
 
 * Writs of the 6th and 16th June ; Shirley, ii. 89, 90, 391. 
 f De aliis pluribus ineptiis, nisi divinitas subveniat, plurimum 
 nocituris. Adam, I.e. 
 
ALTERNATIONS OF FAVOUR AND DISFAVOUR. 71 
 
 taken, Henry, on his part, could not prevent tlie Earl's 
 departure for Bordeaux on the 13th of June,* for the 
 purpose of solving the difficulty on his own respon- 
 sibility. His accusers, who had sworn his death, had 
 immediately hastened away likewise, enraged by the 
 bearing of the English nobility and Council. It was 
 rumoured that fchey were encouraged by certain words 
 in which the King expressed a wish that this lover 
 and instigator of war might be satiated and recom- 
 pensed as his Father had been before in the same 
 southern region. f It was not accidentally that at the 
 same time the governorship of Gascony was conferred 
 by royal patent upon Prince Edward, though still in 
 his nonage, whilst the hostile factions were enjoined to 
 keep the peace until the King arrived with his son.J 
 The secret expectation that the hated governor would 
 work his own ruin § was wholly disappointed. Simon 
 resumed the war with his wonted courage and good 
 fortune, evidently purposing to obtain for himself the 
 justice that was denied him, and finding no lack of 
 assistance among his French fellow-countrymen. His 
 military skill proved superior to all the craft of his 
 
 * Feria quinta post festum beati Bamabse. Adam, I.e. 
 
 t Matth. Paris, 844. 
 
 X Rot. Lit. Pat. 36 Henr. III., membr. 6, June 9, and Rymer, 
 i. 282, June 13, the day on which Simon embarked for Bou- 
 logne. 
 
 § Evidenced by the command to investigate Simon's expendi- 
 ture for the castle of Cusac and to restore Blancfort to its rebel 
 owner ; August 10. Shirley, ii. 91, 92. 
 
72 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 enemies ; he not only succeeded in rescuing his hard- 
 pressed adherents, but also captured five of the rebel 
 ringleaders and sent them triumphantly to the King.* 
 It was not until he had vindicated his honour, and re- 
 deemed at least a part of his pledge, that he left the 
 country and sojourned for a while in France. He was 
 there in December when Queen Blanche died, and, her 
 son Louis being still absent in the East, the princes 
 and peers discussed the appointment of a new regency. 
 In their perplexity they would have brought Simon 
 forward, but fate had already attached him too firmly 
 to his second home, although it repulsed him so often. 
 Twice he unhesitatingly declined the most honourable 
 proposals .f 
 
 He might then watch with triumph, if he were so 
 disposed, how his worst predictions were fulfilled 
 during the next year ; how the King of Castile threat- 
 ened the English supremacy, and Beam immediately 
 threw himself into his arms, with other Gascon nobles 
 who had hitherto artfully preserved a semblance of 
 loyalty to the crown ; how Henry III., unmindful of 
 his repeated crusading vows, involved himself in fresh 
 money difficulties with the clergy and the baronage, 
 and set out upon an expedition altogether profitless 
 and fool-hardy. In October, 1253, Simon had the most 
 perfect satisfaction possible, for, when the King found 
 himself utterly helpless among the Gascons, he at last 
 sent for his brother-in-law to come under a safe con- 
 duct, and bade him bring whatever horsemen and 
 * Matth. Paris, 852, 853. f Matth. Paris, 865. 
 
ALTERNATIONS OF FAVOUR AND DISFAVOUR. 73 
 
 bowmen his military reputation would enable him to 
 gather together.* It speaks much for the EarPs 
 magnanimity that, in the critical position of the two 
 kingdoms,, he lived a whole year as an exile in France 
 without making use of his connections there to revenge 
 the injuries he had received from his brother-in-law, 
 the English King. Though a man of the sword, he 
 was the friend of the most zealous preachers of peace 
 in all Christendom. We still have their testimony 
 that amid his heaviest trials, they did not cease to care 
 for his spiritual well-being, and to check the impetuous 
 ardour that threatened to ruin him and the good cause 
 represented by him. 
 
 So early as the end of 1251, Adam of Marsh had 
 written to Grosseteste that now, if ever, the Earl and 
 Countess stood in need of his sagacious counsel. Both 
 had long seen and dreaded the approaching catas- 
 trophe, f and both sought to influence Simon by word 
 and by pen when he was conducting his own affairs 
 in England.J When he returned to Gascony for the 
 last time in the summer of 1252, Adam not only ex- 
 horted him to persevere in his noble zeal for the faith, 
 but also informed him affectionately of the approach- 
 ing delivery of his wife, whom he had left pregnant at 
 
 * Champollion Figeac, Lettres de Rois etc., L 90 ; Oct. 4, 
 1253. Compare Geschichte von England, iii. p. 687, et seq. 
 
 t Epp. Ad. de Marisco, Nos. 22, 84. 
 
 I No. 135 : Studeat, oro, vestrae discretionis diHgentia cum 
 effectu, Divinae voluntati, secundum quod Hterse prseferunt in- 
 cunctanter, adhibere consensum. 
 
74 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 Kenilwortlij* and of the health of his sons and the 
 venerable Bishop of Lincoln. Grosseteste, Walter of 
 Worcester^ and Adam himself were working zealously 
 to free the Earl from his difficulties, even looking to 
 the Pope for help.f By their advice Simon had ad- 
 dressed himself to Rome, and Innocent IV. yielded to 
 this intercession when he ordered an investigation 
 against Archbishop Girald of Bordeaux, the bitterest 
 and falsest of his enemies. J On his deathbed at 
 Bugden in October, 1253, Grosseteste § bequeathed as 
 his last greeting to Simon an injunction not to cherish 
 anger against his King and liege lord on account of 
 his violent words, but magnanimously to assist him in 
 his perplexity. Thus these men again helped to save 
 the royal family from bitter strife, and the realm from 
 the immediate loss of a valuable province. They en- 
 couraged Simon once more to draw his sword gene- 
 rously in the King's service, and they obtained from 
 the Pope bulls of excommunication || against the muni- 
 
 * No. 136; compare No. 158 : Letter of congratulation to Elea- 
 nor on the birth of a daughter, the youngest child as Mrs. Green 
 points out, The Princesses of England, ii. 104. 
 
 t Locutus fui de negotio subventionis vobis faciendse per in- 
 dulgentiam Apostohcam ; Ep. 141. Also No. 161 may be placed 
 here, a letter to the Countess which treats of magnificis eventi- 
 bus domino comiti et vobis per Dei clementiam concessis. 
 
 I Breve to the Bishop of Clermont : Inn. IV., Ep. x. 642, 
 (MS. Mus. Brit. Add. 15, 357) ; iii. Non. Apr. 1253. 
 
 § Cui comes tanquam patri extitit familiarissimus ; Matth. 
 Paris, 879 ; cf. 876. 
 
 II Rymer, i. 294, Dec. 21, 1253. ChampoUion Figeac, Lettres 
 de Rois, etc. i. 99. 
 
ALTERNATIONS OF FAVOUR AND DISFAVOUR. 75 
 
 cipal officers of La Keole and tlie Yicomtes of Bearn^ 
 Chatillon, and Fronzac, wHcli largely contributed to the 
 final subjugation of the country. 
 
 A sort of amicable settlement of money claims was 
 now arranged between the two brothers-in-law. In 
 several considerable sums the King repaid what Simon 
 had spent in his service^ and compensated him at least 
 in part for the remaining years of his government."^ 
 But this could not be called a reconciliation^ and the 
 Earl had already retired once more to France in the 
 spring of 1254^ when Henry^ then at Bordeaux^ con- 
 cluded the important betrothal of his heir to Eleanor 
 of Castile. 
 
 * Payment of 7000 marks, according to Rot. Liberate, 38 
 Henr. III. membr. 8, 4. Also Rot. Lit. Pat. 37 Henr. III. 
 membr. 11. Cf. Champolhon Figeac, Lettres, i. 94, 95. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE EARL THROWS HIMSELF INTO THE 
 POLITICAL OPPOSITION. 
 
 HBNEY III. IN BOEDEAUX AND PAEIS ; THE SICILIAN CEOWN 
 
 THE KING AND EAEL UPON TOLEEABLY FEIENDLY 
 
 TEEMS — THE DISTEESSED CONDITION OF ENGLAND 
 
 EICHAED OP COENWALL, KING OF THE EOMANS 
 
 VICTOEY OF THE ESTATES AT WESTMINSTEE, 1258 
 
 PAELIAMENT AT OXFOED IN JUNE — THE PEOVISIONS OP 
 
 OXFOED EXPULSION OP THE ALIENS THE GOVEENMENT 
 
 OP THE BAEONS THE PIEST OPPOSITION ON THE PAET OP 
 
 THE KNIGHTHOOD PEACE WITH FEANCE NEGOTIATED BY 
 
 SIMON, 1259 THE KING AND EAEL IN ENGLAND AND 
 
 FEANCE, 1260 EESTOEATION OF THE MONAECHY, 1261 
 
 KING AND EAEL APPEAL TO THE MEDIATION OF 
 
 FEANCE, 1262 HENEY HIMSELF AGAIN AT THE FEENCH 
 
 COUET LOUIS IX. DECLINES THE MEDIATION, 1263. 
 
 Foe a time the Earl of Leicester now almost dis- 
 appeared from public life. His friendly relations 
 with the King were not re-established, neither did 
 he join the opposition party among the English 
 Barons. He lived in retirement with his family in 
 
POLITICAL OPPOSITION. 77 
 
 their French home, without professing permanent 
 allegiance and citizenship, or taking any part in 
 the remarkable conferences and treaties, the political 
 significance of which he could not fail to recognise. 
 
 Just at that time Henry ^s dynastic ambition led 
 to extensive continental alliances, perilous to the 
 last degree to English independence. Whilst the 
 King was still at Bordeaux, the Spanish marriage 
 of the heir was followed by an eager acquiescence 
 in the craftiest designs of the court of Rome. Pope 
 Innocent lY. aimed at uprooting the last of the 
 Hohenstaufen lineage from southern Italy, by calling 
 a foreign prince to the throne of Naples and Sicily ; 
 and, after Richard, Earl of Cornwall, the possessor of 
 the rich tin and copper mines in that county, had 
 declined his proposals, he had selected Henry's 
 younger son Edmund, a boy of nine. The father's 
 delight was boundless, although the sums which 
 his kingdom had hitherto contributed towards the 
 furtherance of the Pope's temporal policy, must 
 inevitably be doubled in consequence. In the form of 
 crusading grants, foreign exactions pressed more and 
 more heavily upon England and her dependencies. 
 Alexander lY. not only adhered to his predecessor's 
 design, but some years later, with Henry's zealous 
 co-operation,* he succeeded in enticing Earl Richard 
 to accept the elective crown of Germany in the 
 
 * The subject is well treated by A. Busson, Die Doppelwahl 
 des Jahrs 1257, und das romische Konigthum Alfons X. von 
 Castilien : Miinster, 1866, p. 10 et seq. 
 
78 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 ecclesiastical interest. The house of Piantagenet 
 did in fact rise to a European dignity and consequence 
 almost unparalleled at tliat epoch, but these deceptive 
 and visionary prospects were inevitably counterbalanced 
 by injury to the foundations of its real power. '^ Eng- 
 land appeared to be no longer a free kingdom, 
 applying its resources to its own ends; with all its 
 riches it was at the service of the Pope of Rome, and 
 the throne was an organ of the hierarchy.^^* 
 
 Other political designs were directed towards Paris. 
 It was only in consequence of Louis IX.'s continued 
 absence in the East, that the English had been left 
 unrestrained in Gascony. Now the condition of his 
 kingdom, and the many complications among the States 
 of the West, called for his presence at home, where at 
 last he arrived in September, 1254. The English 
 court had hitherto remained at Bordeaux, and it 
 was now immediately resolved to return home by 
 way of France, the inducements being partly devo- 
 tional sentiment, partly love of art, but chiefly schemes 
 of family policy. In December, during this brilliant 
 visit to Paris, which must have again swelled the 
 amount of the English debts, the four Proven9al 
 sisters were seen there together, the Queens of France 
 and England and the consorts of Richard of Cornwall 
 and Charles of Anjou. Louis's noble and gentle 
 temper made personal intercourse easy, but no progress 
 was made towards an adjustment of the many points 
 
 * Ranke, Englische Geschichte, i. 98. Details in my Geschichte 
 von England, iii. 696, 700, 707 ; and Stubbs' Constit. History, ii. 
 68-71. 
 
POLITICAL OPPOSITION. 79 
 
 in dispute, especially those relating to feudal rights, 
 which caused incessant discord between the two 
 kingdoms. 
 
 It is remarkable that although the Earl and Countess 
 of Leicester were probably in the neighbourhood, 
 he did not take part in these negotiations concerning 
 foreign affairs,* and even Eleanor, the only surviving 
 sister of the King, had no place in the circle of royal 
 ladies. It was not till the 10th of May, 1255, when 
 Henry had returned home and the Earl of Leicester 
 was tarrying in France upon his own business that he, 
 with Peter of Savoy, was again charged with the 
 onerous task of renewing the French peace, which 
 in July was accordingly prolonged for three years.f 
 At this time the Countess had already returned to 
 England, where she lived in solitude at Kenilworth. 
 Her brother the King rejoiced her now and then with a 
 present of game, J but the estrangement between them 
 was by no means forgotten. It had, on the contrary, be- 
 come more marked since Eleanor, as well as her husband, 
 had been among the creditors of the crown. When 
 Henry purchased the county of Bigorre in Guienne, 
 she had assisted him by the loan of 1000 marks. As 
 
 '- A secret mission to Scotland in August, 1254 (Green, Lives 
 of the Princesses of England, ii. Ill), appears to be wholly 
 unauthentic and based upon a misunderstanding. 
 
 f Simon's commission, Rot. Lit. Pat. 39 Henr. HI. membr. 8 ; 
 
 Peter's, Shirley, ii. 107 ; here it is said of Leicester, Qui pro qui- 
 
 busdam suis negotiis ad partes Franciae se jam transtuUt. The 
 
 treaty, Kymer, i. 324. 
 
 I Rot. Lit. Claus. 39 Henr. III. membr. 10 ; 40 Henr. IH. membr.7. 
 
80 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 in many other cases, he was unable to pay the debt, 
 but referred her, July 8th, 1256, to his own debtors, 
 Roger Earl of Norfolk, or a Jew named Adam ; this 
 was but an empty consolation, the more so because 
 Earl Richard^ s claims had long taken precedence of 
 all others. Bigorre remained mortgaged to the 
 Montforts, and many other arrears were still due 
 to them from the days of the government in 
 Gascony.* 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, the relations with the 
 court seemed gradually to improve. Simon was 
 among the chiefs of the nobility who on the 16th 
 of August, 1256, guaranteed the transfer of the fief of 
 Huntingdon to the young King Alexander III. of 
 Scotland. t The disputes with the clergy and 
 baronage of the realm had become more violent, and 
 Henry doubtless restored Simon to favour in order to 
 secure his support. On the 11th February, 1257, 
 several manors were granted him in fee, and on the 
 20th he was again nominated peace commissioner in 
 conjunction with the learned lawyer, Robert Waleran, 
 receiving at the same time express permission to 
 enter upon the heritage claimed by him in France, 
 if King Louis would put him in complete or partial 
 possession of it. On the same day he obtained leave 
 to dispose of his present property by testament, 
 the King as debtor, swearing for himself and his heirs 
 
 * The evidence from the Rot. Lit. Claus. Green, Princesses, 
 ii. Ill, 112. 
 
 t Shirley, ii. 120. 
 
POLITICAL OPPOSITION. 81 
 
 never to contest the provisioQS lie might make.* 
 This spirit of compliance showed itself again in the 
 summer of 1258, when the law was called upon to 
 determine whether the village of Huddon appertained 
 to the county of Berkshire or the barony of the Earl 
 of Leicester.f But at that time Simon had chosen 
 his side, and it was against the King his brother-in- 
 law. 
 
 Since Henry's return from Gascony, the ill humour 
 of the Lords had continually increased. He had re- 
 cently incurred debts to the amount of 350,000 marks, J 
 and immediately began to borrow again from his 
 brother, to make illegal amercements upon the city of 
 London, and to extort their usurious riches from the 
 Jews, and from the officers of the exchequer in England, 
 From the gulf in which he was sinking more and more 
 deeply, he expected the estates to rescue him by 
 voluntary aids. Hence, in return, the great council 
 or Parliament, summoned at Easter, 1255, had again 
 demanded a share in the choice of the three most im- 
 portant State functionaries, the Great Justiciary, 
 Chancellor, and Treasurer, and that these officers 
 should not be dismissed without consent of parliament. 
 Although under different obligations to Pope and 
 King, the Prelates and Barons declared themselves in 
 closest alliance ; § but, as the court still showed no 
 
 * Documents in Shirley, ii. 121. 392. Also Green, ii. 113. 
 
 f Shirley, ii. 393 ; July 5th. 1258. 
 
 X Matth. Paris, 913. 
 
 § Ex parte universitatis ; Matth. Paris, 902. 
 
82 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 signs of yielding, the fruitless negotiations were post- 
 poned till autumn. In tlie interval, Henry concluded 
 the treaty concerning the Sicilian crown, and thereby, 
 with inconceivable rashness, made the Pope his largest 
 creditor. In order to conquer the districts already 
 occupied by King Manfred, he not only accepted the 
 most humiliating obligations on his son^s behalf, but 
 also swore to send troops and to pay the totally imprac- 
 ticable sum of 135,541 silver marks.* Nevertheless, 
 it was with unbounded joy that he presented the young 
 Edmund to the reassembled peers in October, as King 
 of Sicily and Apulia, the boy wearing on his finger the 
 ring conferred by the Pope. Upon the question of 
 contributions. Master Pustand, the plenipotentiary of 
 the Curia, would not make terms with, the assembly of 
 the clergy, or with their procurators, but only with 
 each individual person. Nevertheless, the greater 
 number were faithful to their secular allies, and the 
 estates as such refused every proposal because they 
 had not been called together in a body, as Magna 
 Charta expressly stipulated, and the affair of the 
 Sicilian crown had been concluded without their 
 consent. t The same attempts were repeated next 
 year, with the same result. In 1257 the clergy granted 
 an extraordinary aid upon a renewed confirmation of 
 the Great Charter, but three weeks later they con- 
 curred with the barons in unanimously refusing to 
 
 * Rymer, i. 316 et seq. 
 
 f Sine consilio suo et assensu baronagii sui ; Matth. Paris, 
 902, 913; Annales de Burton, 360. Cf. Stubbs' Const. Hist.ii. 71. 
 
POLITICAL OPPOSITION. 83 
 
 conquer southern Italy for the Eoman court with 
 English blood and gold ; although ingenious Papal 
 agents miserably impoverished the country, and by 
 threats of interdict and excommunication, sought 
 gradually to reduce both King and kingdom to sub- 
 mission. 
 
 As ill luck would have it, serious contentions broke 
 out at the same time with Scotland, where the unruly 
 nobility had driven their young king, Alexander III., 
 to seek help and protection from his father-in-law of 
 England ; and in Wales, also, after Henry's eldest son 
 Edward had been invested with the Marches, the 
 national Prince, the youthful and aspiring Llewellyn, 
 rose in rebellion at the head of the native mountain 
 tribes, to assert the independence of their country. 
 Owing to lack of money, and the already dubious atti- 
 tude of the gentry, the expeditions against both coun- 
 tries were inefficiently conducted; both ended dis- 
 astrously, and the Scotch and Welsh even combined 
 in a military alliance.* Some slight advantage over 
 semi-barbarous enemies had been obtained by earlier 
 and more capable governments of a politically organized 
 State, but even this seemed now to be forfeited. In 
 every relation, by folly and fickleness, by obstinacy 
 and vanity, Henry had trifled away the affection of his 
 people and the honour of his kingdom. 
 
 But he was innocent of another disaster, which, 
 nevertheless, was equally potent in nourishing the 
 spirit of discontent and insubordination. The wet 
 * Their treaty of March 18, 1868 ; Rymer, i. 370. 
 
 g2 
 
84 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 summer of 1257 ruined the corn harvest; wheat rose 
 during the winter to ten times its ordinary price, and 
 a general famine broke out among the common people, 
 who suffered largely from the other distresses of the 
 time.* It was impossible to overlook the dangers 
 whereby the monarchy and the progress of national 
 development would be threatened, if the passive but 
 persistent opposition of the Barons should now become 
 active, and the lower classes in town and country, 
 rough and ignorant, and still half-bound to the soil, 
 should become possessed by vague and uncompre- 
 hended ideas, and rise in a destructive insurrection. 
 Isolated convulsions of this kind had hitherto been 
 easily repressed ; the Anglo-Saxon peasant inherited 
 from his fathers the habit of endurance and toil in the 
 sweat of his brow, and he brooded on in stolid silence 
 in his old condition. But what if now a hero should 
 appear, who, with patriotic enthusiasm and political 
 acuteness, knew how to guide all classes towards a 
 goal which promised at once material ease and public 
 peace, in place of bitter want and universal shame ? 
 
 Since Stephen Langton, no great leader had ap- 
 peared upon the thorny road whereby political rights 
 are attained. Through John's humiliation before 
 Innocent III., the Bishops were fettered by a double 
 relationship to the Pope, and constant jealousies among 
 the Earls and Barons permitted no one man to achieve 
 distinction in the still very undeveloped assemblies. 
 The authority of the crown and its experienced judi- 
 * Geschichte von England, iii. 714. 
 
POLITICAL OPPOSITION. 85 
 
 cial and administrative oflBcers was supreme in all 
 affairs of business. Earl Richard, the King's brother, 
 suffered frequent injuries like the rest, and might 
 perhaps have exercised an influence at once command- 
 ing and conciliatory, but his character lacked solidity, 
 and his position forbade him to disregard the dynastic 
 interests of the Plantagenets whenever they were 
 seriously at stake. His royal brother had for years 
 been mortgaged to him if to any one in the kingdom, 
 but his own hands were tied in consequence. Now, 
 on account of his world-renowned wealth, Richard had 
 been elected King by the Papal party in Germany, 
 without bringing any serious burdens upon the crown 
 and its vassals, as in the case of the Sicilian crown. 
 He left England in the spring of 1257, and thus 
 deprived the prelates and barons, temporarily at least, 
 of his personal counsel. 
 
 Such was the general position of affairs when the 
 Earl of Leicester came forward, and in a few years 
 made himself the leader of a popular movement. Per- 
 sonally, he was not unprepared for the position, but 
 forces of very diverse character supported and favoured 
 him. What induced him just at that moment to emerge 
 from his retirement ? Through his marriage, his re- 
 lationship to the King was well-nigh as close as that 
 of the other foreign nobles who domineered over the 
 country ; but, unlike them, he carefully abstained from 
 dishonourably enriching himself with revenues and 
 offices, or from interfering precipitately in the public 
 business of the realm. His disinterested acceptance 
 
86 SIMON DE MONT FORT. 
 
 of responsibility in Guienne, and the prudence and 
 courage lie there manifested must rather have won 
 him the long-withheld esteem of the native English 
 Barons. He did not belong to the insatiable parasites, 
 but to the creditors of the court. Neither could it be 
 unobserved that, though Henry repeatedly restored 
 him to favour after gross ill-treatment, there remained 
 an unconquerable mutual repugnance between the two, 
 founded in Henry^s mind upon that dread of ability 
 common with incapable despots, and in Simon's upon 
 long-increasing distrust. It may be that in proportion 
 as he was compelled to distrust this relationship, it 
 became easier for him to join the opposition party, 
 although there was no sign of closer personal connec- 
 tion with any of the prominent nobles. 
 
 More effect was produced by home and family 
 politics, in which the Countess played an active part. 
 Her nature was ardent and enterprising, whilst the 
 King, her brother, was capricious and dependent upon 
 promptings from without ; sympathy between them 
 was impossible. Not only had he sinned against her 
 womanly honour, he had also curtailed her inheritance 
 long before ; for when she was the widow of the Earl 
 Marshal, and still a minor, he had contrived that 
 instead of the 2000 marks assigned her, only £400 
 should be yearly paid as jointure, and, without her 
 knowledge, he had affixed her seal to the agreement."^ 
 The matter had been before a court of law for many 
 
 *Rot. Lit. Glaus. 17 Henr. III. membr. 9 dorso. Numerous 
 facts in Mrs. Green's Lives of the Priucesses, ii. 116 and 453. 
 
POLITICAL OPPOSITION. 87 
 
 years, and various other claims had been added ; for, 
 in his constant embarrassments, Henry applied to his 
 sister, whose admirable financial management was as 
 remarkable as his incompetence. Though she was 
 scarcely received at court, and seldom treated as be- 
 came her royal birth, she never failed to assert her 
 rights as a member of the house when any opportunity 
 occurred, such as a cession of territory, or transfer of 
 fiefs. In all these matters her husband was her best 
 counsellor. It was part of the destiny of their lives 
 that, living in familiar intercourse with the band of 
 Minorites, who were struggling against the deep moral 
 corruption of the time, they both saw the duties of 
 King and bishops and nobles in a totally different 
 light from that in which they appeared for the most 
 part to those dignitaries themselves. The Franciscan 
 doctrine of lowliness and humility opened their hearts 
 to sympathize with the position of the common people, 
 and they, in short, attained views of life very rare in 
 their time and station. The family was inspired by 
 peculiar religious and political convictions. To their 
 sorrow, they had lost their best support in 1253, by 
 the death of Eobert Grosseteste, who never wearied of 
 preaching forbearance and patience under wrong. 
 Four years later, the faithful Adam of Marsh died ; he 
 appears latterly to have been less intimately connected 
 with the EarFs household than before.* The only 
 
 * According to Brewer, Monumenta Franciscana, p. xcix., Adam 
 must have died in 1257, at latest in the spring of 1258. It is 
 remarkable that there is no letter to the Earl and Countess in liis 
 collection after their last return from Gascony. 
 
88 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 wholesome check upon Simon's ambition and self- 
 confidence, perhaps upon their common desire to 
 retaUate upon their enemies, was thus removed. 
 Though the noble convictions and principles which 
 they had derived from that connection remained un- 
 changed, it certainly was not an accident that now, 
 when Leicester was fifty years of age, and had out- 
 grown priestly advice, he entered upon a new course 
 of public life, where he was no longer protected against 
 arrogance and other obvious perils. 
 
 The peers and lieges of the realm were summoned 
 to Westminster, as was customary, fourteen days after 
 Easter, 1258, to discharge urgent business, this time 
 in connection with the Welsh war, and the rigorous 
 demands of Home.* The Earl of Leicester appeared 
 among them. It is scarcely probable that he had 
 accomplished a mission to Italy, upon which he had 
 been appointed during the previous summer with 
 Peter of Savoy and John Mansell, a clerk of the 
 Treasury. In any case they had made so little use of 
 the authority granted them, to return the Sicilian 
 crown in the last extremity into the Pope^s hands,t 
 
 * Rymer, i. 370, May 2 : pro negotiis nostris arduis .... 
 proceres et fideles regni. Among the attesting members of the 
 royal council there appear, besides Prince Edward, no native 
 barons except the Earl of Warwick, and no judges. On the 
 other hand, there are two of Henry's step-brothers, Peter of Savoy, 
 and such obsequious officials as John Mansell. 
 
 f Rymer, i. 360 ; June 28, 1257. Probably the journey was 
 n^ver taken, and Rot. Lit. Pat. 42. Henr. III. membr. 15, where 
 the King acknowledges a debt to the Earl of ^1198. 145. lOd. has 
 no connection with it. 
 
POLITICAL OPPOSITION. 89 
 
 that in January, when the King was sorely embar- 
 rassed, he, nevertheless, wrote to the Cardinal- Deacon 
 Octavian, that the estates did indeed withhold their 
 consent, but, if the Papal court had patience, he would 
 still fulfil all his obligations.* Immediately afterwards, 
 the sharpest menaces had proved that the Pope was 
 in earnest; the displeasure of the assembled estates 
 was full to overflowing. The Earls of Leicester and 
 Grloucester made no attempt to conceal it, both not a 
 little encouraged by Richard's absence in Germany. 
 
 In extreme ill-humour, the King again had recourse 
 to abusive language, and his malicious half-brother, 
 William of Yalence, the son of the same Hugh de la 
 March, who in 1242 deserted to the French at Pons, 
 dared to call the Earl of Leicester an old traitor and 
 liar. " No, no, WiUiam,^^ he replied wrathfully, *^ I am 
 neither a traitor nor a traitor's son. Our fathers were 
 of a very different stamp.^^ The personal and political 
 quarrel between these two foreign nobles would have 
 been decided on the spot by the sword, if the King 
 himself had not separated them. In the fierce debates 
 Simon most frequently acted as spokesman to the 
 assembly, and gave expression to that which was in 
 the hearts of all,t charging the unhappy King with 
 reducing the realm to such destitution by mortgaging 
 it to the Pope, and by granting enormous favours to 
 
 * Shirley, ii. 126, undated, but not later than the beginning of 
 February. 
 
 f Non tamen regi, sed universitati praecordialiter est conques- 
 tus, exigens instanter sibi justitiam exhiberi. Matth. Paris, 968. 
 
90 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 his minions,, that it was now impossible to shake off 
 even such contemptible enemies as the "Welsh. No- 
 thing was gained by discussion, or by the old plan 
 of soliciting the prelates singly ; and, on the 2nd of 
 May, Henry was at last compelled to make concessions 
 which were tantamount to a complete overthrow of the 
 present system of government. The estates promised 
 a national subsidy on condition that the Pope should 
 moderate his demands, and the King pledged himself 
 in return to reform the administration of the realm 
 before Christmas, with the advice of his faithful 
 estates and in presence of a Legate. But on the same 
 day, in the tumult which the movement caused, a writ 
 was issued bidding the Parliament meet again four 
 weeks after Whitsuntide, at Oxford, an unusual and 
 neutral place, where a committee of twenty-four — 
 twelve chosen by the Crown and twelve by the Barons 
 — should propose the essential features of a compre- 
 hensive reform; their decision the King swore upon 
 his soul to accept without gainsaying. * So, at last, 
 after long and miserable restraint, the dam was broken 
 through, as in King John's days, but the question 
 remained whether the waters could again be brought 
 under control as speedily as then. 
 
 On the appointed day, the 11th of June, the Barons, 
 
 * The documents in Rymer, i. 370, 371, 372. The words of 
 the writ are : Ad hoc parliamentum nostrum Oxoniae, quod erit 
 in unum mensem post festum Penticostis. Stubbs' Select 
 Charters and other Illustrations of EngUsh Constitutional His- 
 tory, 2nd ed. p. 380, 381. Const. Hist. ii. 73, 74. 
 
POLITICAL OPPOSITION. 91 
 
 great and small, arrived in Oxford, to assemble there 
 in the Dominican Convent. Some hundred nobles 
 marched, armed and mounted, towards the town with 
 their horsemen. The summons against Wales, and 
 the insecurity of the French truce, afforded the pre- 
 text ; but, remembering the events of 1215, they had 
 secured the harbours in order to guard against any 
 stroke from abroad.* Their equipment really ex- 
 pressed a steadfast determination to abolish the 
 grievances under which the kingdom groaned. The 
 King, who lodged in the neighbouring Castle of 
 Woodstock, and his party, consisting chiefly of 
 foreigners and churchmen, were compelled to give 
 way. Yet as their representatives upon the committee 
 of twenty-four, they for the most part elected them- 
 selves; two bishops, Henry^s step -brothers, his 
 nephew, the eldest son of King Richard, the Earl de 
 Warenne, who had married a half-sister, the Earl of 
 Warwick, and some low-born and submissive tools of 
 the government. Among those elected by the oppo- 
 site party were Walter of Cantilupe, Bishop of Wor- 
 cester, Grosseteste^s saintly friend ; the Earls of 
 Gloucester, t Hereford, Norfolk, and Leicester ; and, 
 
 * Matth. Paris, 970. 
 
 f According to the patent of June 22, in Reports of the Lords' 
 Committee touching the dignity of a peer, i. 103, Richard of 
 Gloucester was chosen by the King; but the contemporary 
 reports, especially the documents in the Annales de Burton, 447 
 (newly edited by Luard, Annales Monastici, Rer. Brit, med. sevi 
 SS. i. and described even in those Reports, i. 105, as authentic 
 
92 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 among the knights and barons^ also a cousin of the 
 last Peter of Montfort. With passionate delight in 
 constantly repeated elections, the twenty-four then 
 nominated four out of their number who were to 
 appoint a royal council of fifteen members. The 
 Barons succeeded in carrying ten candidates for the 
 council j whilst on the king's side, only the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, the Earls of Warwick and 
 Winchester, Peter of Savoy, and John Audley were 
 chosen. Thus the faction of foreign favourites and 
 subordinate clerks was completely defeated, and an 
 elected government and a constitutional ministry es- 
 tablished. Of its members an overwhelming majority 
 were hostile to the present system, and practically 
 wrenched the government out of the King's hands. 
 Simon was superior in rank to all, except the two 
 prelates of Canterbury and Worcester; and already 
 he was pre-eminently distinguished by his zeal in 
 establishing an entirely new regime. Probably the 
 measures and decisions of this memorable parliament 
 were for the most part originated by him. 
 
 The committee of twenty-four did not now retire, 
 but proceeded to act in the name of all the tenants- 
 in-chief (per le commun), first presenting a series of 
 petitions for the abolition of abuses in feudal matters 
 and in the administration of justice ; and marking the 
 
 documents) place him distinctly on the other side. Moreover, 
 the late date of the patent is noticeable. Perhaps the two parties 
 contended for the doubtful edrl, who from the first could hardly 
 work harmoniously with Simon. 
 
POLITICAL OPPOSITION. 9a 
 
 / national character of the movement by the demands 
 \ that all royal castles should be taken out of the 
 1 custody of aliens, and committed to natives ; and that 
 I heiresses should only be given in marriage to their 
 j countrymen. They pressed for a reduction of the 
 ^ exactions arising out of the high rents of the sheriffs, 
 and , many other dues augmented by the crown itself, 
 and urged that measures should be taken against the 
 Jews and usurers of whom many embarrassed nobles 
 and gentlemen became the prey. From such me- 
 morials the committee drew up new constitutional 
 articles, the so-called Provisions of Oxford,* enforcing 
 in the first place inviolable observance of the oft- 
 confirmed charters. They reserved to themselves the 
 long-disputed right of appointing the Great Justiciary, 
 the Chancellor, and the Lord Treasurer. This encroach- 
 ment upon the province of the executive would have 
 been prejudicial to the vigorous centralization that 
 had been carried out in judicial business since the 
 reign of Henry III., and would have substituted the 
 feudal pretensions of baronial justice for the legal 
 system developed by the crown judges. The Great 
 Justiciary, until Hubert de Burgh, was the highest 
 officer of State, and the King^s representative as the 
 sole and personal fountain of justice. Since that time 
 he had been superseded by the personal absolutism of 
 the monarch ; and now he was to be reinstated by the 
 
 * The petitions in Latin, and the Provisions 6f Oxford in 
 French, Annales de Burton, p. 439, et seq, ; and Stubbs, Select 
 Charters, 382 et seq. 
 
94 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 Barons themselves^ but for a contrary purpose, as the 
 most important guarantee of their political rights. 
 The position accorded to their nominee, Hugh Bigod, 
 brother of the Earl of Norfolk, recalls that held by 
 the justicia in Aragon. 
 
 A special resolution ordained that Parliaments 
 should be regularly summoned for the 6th of October, 
 the 2nd of February, and the 1st of June. Besides 
 the King^s fifteen appointed counsellors, only twelve 
 nobles {prodes homes), elected in the name of the 
 whole, were to meet on these occasions to transact the 
 general business of the realm as far as the King's rule 
 extended. This restriction of number was nominally 
 to save expense to the community, * but really to limit 
 the assembly in accordance with the character of a 
 baronial court. The whole community was bound to 
 acquiesce in the decisions of these oligarchic re- 
 presentatives. 
 
 Yet another committee of twenty-four members was 
 elected to consider the subject of a national tax, 
 evidently with reference to the Pope's demands. 
 They came, however, to no understanding, for the 
 rapid revolutionary changes were just reaching their 
 climax. A separate article ordered the election of 
 four knights in each shire f to take note of local 
 grievances for the next Parliament. Oaths were pre- 
 scribed for all the elected commissions, for the new 
 
 * Pur esparmir le cust del commun. Annales de Burton, 452. 
 t Quatuor discreti et legales homines, qui quolibet die, ubi 
 tenetur comitatus, conveniant, etc. Ibid. 446. 
 
POLITICAL OPPOSITION. 95 
 
 officers, and for tlie wardens of castles. Without tlie 
 possibility of making resistance, Henry was compelled, 
 candle in hand, to swear to the laws which were forced 
 upon him. In a series of charters wrung from him 
 under the pressure of existing circumstances, he con- 
 firmed the oath for himself and his son ; made himself 
 surety for the confidential adherents who were left to 
 him, and enjoined upon the sheriffs the abolition of 
 their oppressive practices.* His humiliation could go 
 no further. 
 
 But this result would not have been attained without 
 a decided exercise of force. On the 22nd of June the 
 victorious party had determined the fate of the royal 
 fortresses. These had been entrusted almost exclusively 
 to foreign favourites, to whom the King's first-born son 
 Edward, Henry, the son of King Eichard, and the Earl 
 de Warenne adhered. Although Leicester, whose posi- 
 tion by birth was similar to theirs, set them an excellent 
 example by delivering up his castles of Kenilworth and 
 Odiham to the King, they raised a vehement opposition. 
 Young Henry declared that he could not acquiesce in 
 the decree in his father's absence. Simon retaliated 
 upon the insolent William of Yalence for his recent 
 abuse by crying : " Either the castles or thy head." 
 To escape the storm Yalence and his brothers, Guy and 
 Geoffrey of Lusignan, suddenly left Oxford with their 
 retainers, and joined their brother Aimar, the Bishop 
 
 * Shirley, ii. 127, June 26 : Fiat reformatio et ordinatio status 
 regni nostri ; p. 129, August 4, similar French writ ; to the sheriffs, 
 Annales de Burton, 456. 
 
96 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 elect, at Wolvesliam castle, near Wincliester. The 
 Barons, on their side, now raised the session and fol- 
 lowed them in arms, taking the King with them and led 
 by Simon, for he had caused the custody of the castle 
 of Winchester to be assigned to him on the same 22nd 
 of June."^ A convention was framed there in July, and 
 the whole coterie were banished from the kingdom, in- 
 cluding William, although hq was Earl of Pembroke, 
 and also the Bishop Aimar. Before this was effected, 
 the Abbot of Winchester and a brother of Gloucester's 
 had been poisoned at a banquet at their instigation. 
 When removed from the King's council, their insolent 
 demeanour had brought upon them the national 
 vengeance, all their possessions, titles, and honours 
 were accounted robbery and forfeited; their royal patron 
 was compelled himself to pronounce sentence of depri- 
 vation. Their fall was followed by the submission of 
 Edward, Henry, and Warenne.f 
 
 Such coercion did not meet with universal approval, 
 and the disaffected were not slow to perceive that 
 it would furnish the desired occasion for a reactionary 
 attack upon the Provisions. { Was it not in fact, the 
 
 * Rot. Lit. Pat. 42 Henry HI. membr. 6. 
 
 f The principal source of information, besides Matth. Paris 
 and the Annal. Winton. ed. Luard,p. 95, is the letter of an eye-wit- 
 ness de curia regis in Annales de Burton, 443 ; also a number of 
 documents ; compare Gesch. v. England, iii. 720 ff., and Stubbs' 
 Const. Hist, ii., 78, 79. 
 
 X This opinion is expressed by the so-called Thomas Wykes, 
 p. 119. almost the only royalist historian: Quintus articulus 
 omnino iUicitus fuit et praecipue detestandus. He must have 
 
POLITICAL OPPOSITION. 97 
 
 greatest anomaly, a grave offence against the new law, 
 that an alien by birth, such as the Earl of Leicester, 
 should imperiously press to the front as spokesman in 
 a patriotic movement; that he had taken possession of 
 Winchester, one of the keys of the realm, and de- 
 spatched his eldest son, Henry de Montfort, to Boulogne 
 in pursuit of the exiles, for the purpose of rescuing the 
 treasures which they had carried off? The humiliation 
 of the King, and the attempt of the vassals to conduct 
 a constitutional government themselves, threatened to 
 issue in the dictatorship of one man. But, for a time, 
 nothing was more popular than the expulsion of the 
 foreigners from fiefs and benefices, and the transfer of 
 fortresses to native governors in the name of the State. 
 The national peace far outweighed in consequence the 
 vigorous and permanent transformation of the consti- 
 tution. Hence, the prevailing opinion among contem- 
 poraries was almost enthusiastic approval of the new 
 measures ; it was later, when their fruit would not 
 ripen, that the opposite party gave the derisive name 
 of the '^ mad Parliament '^ to the Oxford assembly.* 
 
 had before him an original numbered draught of the Provi- 
 sions, such as has not been preserved to us. According 
 to Luard's edition, he nearly copies the Osney Annals down to the 
 year 1258, but differs entirely from them in the period of the 
 Barons' war. 
 
 * The chroniclers of St. Albans, Winchester, Waverley, and 
 Dunstaple were entirely favourable to the Barons ; Ferociter pro- 
 cedunt Barones in agendis suis, utinam bonum finem sortiantur, 
 are the words of the above-mentioned letter in the Annals of 
 Burton. The expression insane parUamentum apud Oxoniam, 
 
 H 
 
m SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 In the summer of 1258, when the promoters of the new 
 laws proceeded forthwith to put them into execution, 
 the greater number could scarcely overlook the dangers 
 of the situation which they had themselves created ; 
 though with a measure of distrust they relied upon 
 Montfort^s sagacity for the solution of all domestic and 
 foreign perplexities. The Papal agents were promptly 
 sent home with an answer thoroughly characteristic 
 of the temper of the secular vassals : The Sicilian crown 
 had been accepted without their sanction, and there- 
 fore they were not bound to pay the heavy price.* No 
 one was better qualified than Simon to bring about an 
 enduring peace with France. This, chiefly, because of 
 the King^s vain hope of winning back Poitou, or even the 
 Norman duchy, had been hindered for more than twenty 
 years hj a succession of unsatisfactory trucks, almost 
 more efi'ectually than by war itself. The King's admi- 
 nistrative council and the committee of delegates, in 
 which Simon was for a time the master spirit, believed 
 that they neglected no means of making their work 
 lasting. From Winchester they hastened to London, 
 in order to secure the City as their fathers had done in 
 1215. The King was forced to issue a series of writs, 
 appointing new sheriffs to the counties, and subordi- 
 
 afterwards so common, is first found in the London Clironicle, 
 written in the reign of Edward I. by the Alderman Arnold Thed- 
 mar, an adherent of the crown, of German descent. ' Liber de An- 
 tiquis Legibus,' p, 37 (Camden Society.) 
 
 * Letter of the fifteen counsellors to the Pope in Annales de 
 Burton, 457 ; Matth. Paris, Additament, 215 ; and Rymer, i. 373. 
 
POLITICAL OPPOSITION. 99 
 
 nating their oiSice to the will of the community."* 
 Every provision was to be actually put into execution. 
 And yet the provisional government, though it was 
 carried on till the end of 1259, and with some inter- 
 ruptions even to the spring of 1263, almost immediately 
 proved unequal to the performance of its promises 
 upon the most essential points. Hugh Bigod, the Great 
 justiciary, was not an erudite lawyer; and baronial justice 
 could not in any measure replace the system that had 
 been founded by the crown as the basis of the realm, 
 and required skilful administrators, well versed in the 
 common law — men who in the thirteenth century still 
 sought to learn from the jurists of Bologna, at least 
 formal principles for the support of the national juris- 
 prudence. The Barons further believed that they had 
 cut off one nerve of the monarchy by persecuting its 
 loyal and experienced officers, but in doing so they 
 robbed themselves of indispensable instruments, with- 
 out whom the new government inevitably lapsed into 
 confusion. The higher clergy, with the exception of a 
 few friends of reform, had estranged themselves from 
 the nobility, and, because the claims of the Pope were 
 so sternly ignored, most of the prelates were necessarily 
 omitted in the many elections of committees. And, 
 lastly, the crowd of smaller vassals had never been 
 bidden as a body to Parliament, as had been once 
 promised in Magna Charta, and they were by no means 
 content to be of no importance beyond their own 
 shires, whilst the great Barons deported themselves as 
 * Ann. de Burton, 456. Rymer, i. 375. 
 
 h2 
 
100 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 if their oligarchic rule were to last for ever. Hence, the 
 first attempts at administrative reform, under the 
 judicial and financial authority of the sherifis, naturally 
 aroused opposition among the holders of small fiefs, 
 who, though they gladly welcomed a release from royal 
 oppression, did not consider themselves represented in 
 national matters by a committee elected exclusively 
 from among the great Barons. With all the elections 
 and siftings for the various commissions, none were 
 provided with representatives except the elite of the 
 tenant s-in- chief. 
 
 These malcontetit views, grounded upon the memory 
 of universal political rights in primitive times, made 
 themselves immediately apparent, though quietly and 
 cautiously. After the constituent decrees passed at 
 Oxford, the Parliament, since moved to Westminster 
 in October, 1259, felt itself to be in truth a legislative 
 assembly, as it announced the ratification of the new 
 laws to the nation through the provisional government 
 of fifteen and in the King's name. It is rfemarkable that 
 the two vernacular idioms, French and English, were 
 first used about this time.* The sovereign was vir- 
 tually divested of his free authority, and the great 
 Barons, as rulers and legislators, took the government 
 of the realm into their own hands through the instru- 
 mentality of the fifteen ministers'and twelve represen- 
 tatives whom they elected.f On the other hand, it was 
 
 * See the names of the council and the different commissions ' 
 collected and arranged by Stubbs, Const. Hist. ii. 82. 
 
 t The remarkable patents of October 18th, 1258, Eymer, i. 377, 
 
POLITICAL OPPOSITION. 101 
 
 on this account the more significant that the knighthood, 
 the communitas hachelerice AnglioGy as they styled them- 
 selves, ventured to draw up a protest and present it to 
 the young heir, who regarded the whole movement with 
 marked disfavour. Full of loyalty to the King since he 
 had submitted to the conditions laid upon hia::, they 
 accused the Barons of acting for theii; oWn'adVailtage 
 only, and doing nothing for the good'pf tl;feire£^li?i.' '*Xf 
 the position of afiairs remained unchanged. Prince 
 Edward himself, seemingly in concert with Earl Simon, 
 openly threatened a counter reformation.^ 
 
 To their own loss, moreover, the great Barons over- 
 looked a numerous class of peers by the recognition of 
 whom the whole movement might have gained real 
 popularity and vigour, had they so chosen. The twelve 
 delegates proceeded as if no one could disturb their 
 rule, and issued from Westminster a long series of 
 statutes in French and Latin for regulating the admi- 
 nistration of justice. In the Parliaments which were 
 
 378. Gescliiclite von England, iii. 909, 910 ; and the excellent 
 monograph by Alexander F. Ellis. The only EngHsh proclamation 
 by Henry III, 
 
 * Annalesde Burton, p.471 : Festivitate S. Edwardi regi et con- 
 fessoris in quindenam S. Michaelis, the 13th and not the 6th Octo- 
 ber. Many of the documents in these annual registers are loosely 
 arranged, and it remains fincertain whether the year was 1258 or 
 1259. Gneist, Gescliichte und heutige Gestalt der Aemter und 
 des Verwaltungsrechts in England, 2 ed. i. 305, dates 1258; 
 Stubbs, Const. Hist. ii. 81, 1259, in accordance with the Pro- 
 visions of the Barons, see Statutes of the Realm, i. 8, and Select 
 Charters, 400. 
 
102 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 assembled,, according to tlie Provisions^ for more than 
 a year, this zealous law-making ceased, but still the 
 self- chosen ministers and peers governed in the stead 
 of the King and the community,* and when Eichard, 
 King of the Komans, visited England, they exacted from 
 him ar o?ih "to accept the newly enacted measures. 
 At the' same time they experienced daily increasing 
 difficulty ia condiiicting foreign affairs and in preserving 
 union among themselves. 
 
 Earl Simon was the only man who stood forth pre- 
 eminent among them all, the only man before whom the 
 King trembled. If he had really been dictator instead 
 of one among many, he might have steered clear of 
 many perils. But the possibility always remained that 
 whenever any schism occurred among the Barons them- 
 selves, the EarFs adversaries, of whom there was no 
 lack, would go over to the King^s party. Upon one 
 occasion, during the stormy summer of 1258, the King 
 was surprised by a tempest on the Thames, and sought 
 shelter in Simon's lodging. He then told him to his 
 face, — him who had torn from him his kinsfolk and 
 favourites, and forced upon the court the practice of 
 economy and thrift : '^ I have great dread of thunder 
 and lightning, but, by God's Head, I fear thee more 
 than all the storms in the world.^'t And the peers of 
 
 * Le cunseil le Rey et les duze esluz par le cummuii de I'Engle- 
 terre saluent tute gent, are the words of their address of 
 March 18, 1259; Rymer, i. 381. In November the itinerant 
 Judges were despatched to the counties per consilium magna- 
 tum nostrorum ; Shirley, ii. 141. 
 
 t Matth. Paris C74. 
 
POLITICAL OPPOSITION. 103 
 
 highest rank feared him no less. Not only did his 
 quite peculiar connections and his impetuous and im- 
 perious manner excite their mistrust ; he did not fully 
 sympathize with the exclusive attitude of the nobility, 
 who anxiouly debarred the knights and citizens from 
 all participation in public affairs. Add to this, that, 
 almost without their concurrence, the negotiations with 
 France on the part of the new government were 
 chiefly entrusted to this born Frenchman. His return 
 from the continent was eagerly awaited by his friends 
 in the spring Parliament of 1259, but when he arrived 
 late in the session, an altercation immediately followed 
 with Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, 
 the man who everywhere stood next to him in rank. 
 Although Gloucester had been for years a champion of 
 constitutional rights, he had recently betrothed his son 
 to the daughter of Guy of Lusignan, one of the King's 
 half brothers, and according to one statement had even 
 been chosen by the crown to the committee of twenty- 
 four. We are ignorant of the special occasion of the 
 outbreak between him and Simon, when the latter cried 
 passionately : " I will have nought more to do with such 
 turncoats and deceivers.'^* But we know that popular 
 opinion already pointed to the Earls of Gloucester and 
 Norfolk, and some other prominent nobles, as waverers 
 or even renegades from the good cause. f 
 * Matth. Paris, 986. 
 f Comes Glovemise, comple quod coepisti ; 
 Nisi claudas congrue, multos decepisti .... 
 O tu, Comes le Bygot, pactum serva sanum : 
 
 Cum sis miles strenuus, nunc exerce manum 
 
 Th. Wright, Political Songs (Camden Society), p. 122, 123. 
 
104 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 Simon had immediately hastened back in wrath to 
 France,, where his presence was indispensable to the 
 conclusion of the long-sought peace. Normandy and 
 the counties of Anjou, Maine, Touraine, and Poitou 
 were at last formally ceded to Louis IX., and 
 the points in dispute concerning the feudal relation 
 in Guienne were determined.* The two States and 
 peoples were thus placed upon a more satisfactory 
 footing with regard to one another, than at any 
 time since King John^s humiliation ; but the nego- 
 tiations were disturbed, not only by the com- 
 pensation due to Simon for the services he had ren- 
 dered, bat also by his direct dynastic claims. It was 
 not without reason that the Countess again accom- 
 panied her husband abroad. He made use of his 
 power to compel the King to discharge his debts out 
 of his strictly administered revenues, and Eleanor also 
 hoped now to receive the whole of the jointure be- 
 queathed by her first husband. f It is remarkable that 
 Simon, on this occasion, resigned the eventual title to 
 Toulouse and Beziers that he derived from his illus- 
 trious father ; J and the King of France did not pro- 
 ceed to ratify the instrument of peace until he had 
 received a renunciation from all agnates of the house 
 
 * Eymer, i. 383 et seq. 
 
 f i.*200 to Simon, Rot. Lit. Pat. 48 Henr. III. membr. 15. 
 Eleanor was to be indemnified by certain royal manors ; and the 
 King redeemed his pledge on Bigorre at least for seven years. 
 Mrs. Green, Princesses, ii. 117. 
 
 \ Vic et Vaissete, Histoire de Languedoc, vi. 110, and Preuves, 
 p. 522 ; Simon's deed dated Paris, December, 1259. 
 
POLITICAL OPPOSITION. 105 
 
 of Plantagenet, consequently from Richard and his 
 sister. But Eleanor and her husband, doubtless not 
 undesignedly, raised many difficulties with reference 
 to the county of Agenois, once received by Raymond 
 of Toulouse as dowry with his wife Johanna, daughter 
 of Henry II. ; through her granddaughter it passed to 
 Alfons, brother of Louis IX. _, when he, by marriage, 
 acquired possession of Toulouse as well as this fief. 
 After his death, Eleanor, as cousin of the present 
 Countess, again asserted her claim to the province, 
 which was lapsing to the French crown. Probably 
 her object was less to preserve an ancient fief of 
 Guienne to the house of Plantagenet, than to assist 
 the constantly-reviving schemes of the house of Mont- 
 fort for securing dominion on French soil.* It can 
 scarcely have been accidentally that the Earl of Glou- 
 cester was appointed one of the arbitrators on the 
 English side in this case. The peace could not be 
 Goncluded in its entirety until the end of the year, and 
 then not until Henry III. had escaped from his guar- 
 dians and their disagreements, and repaired to the 
 French court. Throwing himself into Louis's arms, 
 he skilfully took advantage of Simon's dubious de- 
 meanour, and encouraged the suspicion that he sought 
 to profit by the general confusion, and to acquire un- 
 due power for himself and his house, perhaps even the 
 crown of the realm. f 
 
 * All the authentic documents in Mrs. Green's Princesses, ii. 
 114, etseq. 
 
 f Comes autem Leycestrise liuic paci opposuit, proponens quod 
 
106 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 A dangerous double game immediately commenced 
 between Henry and Leicester, eacb seeking to elude 
 and outdo the other in dealing with the English no- 
 bility and the French King. On the 4th of December, 
 as soon as they had signified their concurrence in the 
 Anglo-French peace,* Simon and his consort sailed 
 from the French coast, and landed with a stately train 
 of horsemen, which excited universal attention. On 
 the 10th of February, 1260, the Earl was entertained 
 like a prince by the Abbot of St. Albans. f He had 
 come to make sure of his adherents, to protect the 
 Provisions of Oxford from the intrigues of his oppo- 
 nent Gloucester, and, if necessary, to defend with his 
 sword the constitution which was founded upon them. 
 His sudden boldness and decision would be inexplic- 
 able if the Court had not been engaged in extensive 
 intrigues during its apparent triflings at Paris. After 
 he had at last made terms with his brother-in-law. 
 King Louis, and whilst he remained in a foreign 
 country, Henry appeared to consider himself perfectly 
 free from restraint, at least in dynastic matters. On 
 the 16th of January he despatched a message to the 
 clergy and nobility of Sicily, to the effect that, with 
 the hope of support from the Pope, he was disposed to 
 
 processu temporis contingere posset quod esedem terras simul cum 
 regno Angliae ad filios suos vel haeredes jure haereditario descen- 
 dere possent, says the royahst Thomas Wykes, 123. Compare 
 Geschichte von England, iii. 736. 
 
 -Rymer, i. 392. 
 
 f Matth. Westmonast. 371. 
 

 POLITICAL OPPOSITION.y^rr^^ -* V,. 
 
 renew his suit for tlie crown of tliat kingdom on 
 of his son Edmund.* On the same day he addressed 
 a communication to the Glreat Justiciary, Hugh Bigod, 
 informing him that unforeseen difficulties necessitated 
 his continued absence, and demanding that no parlia- 
 ment should meet until his return. f The sagacious 
 Louis IX. was favourably disposed towards the Earl of 
 Leicester, and it was not easy for Henry to attach him 
 to his interests. He had trifled away several months 
 on the coast of Boulogne before he found courage to 
 give him notice that suspicious exportations of arms 
 and horses were carried on by Simon's orders. J His 
 entire destitution, and his great dread of disorderly 
 scenes at home, led him to postpone his return until 
 the money stipulated in the treaty of peace was paid. || 
 But, on the 23rd of April, he landed suddenly at Dover, 
 for a rumour had reached him that, at a Parliament held 
 
 * Negotium Siciliae quod assumpsimus secundum effectum 
 nostri desiderii veluti proponebamus hucusque prosequi nequi- 
 vimus. Shirley, ii. 147. 
 
 f Ibid. ii. 148. The same again to the other members of the 
 council on the 19th of February, p. 153. 
 
 \ Rymer, i. 396 : Per quod motum animi ejusdem comitis evi- 
 dentius perpendere poteritis quahter erga nos se habeat. The 
 date April 28 is erroneous. A similar warning to King Richard, 
 who was then in England, against an enterprise of the step- 
 brothers from Poitou, April 18, 1. c, has the appearance of a 
 feeler. 
 
 II According to Eot. Lit. Pat. 44 Henr. III. membr. 5, he re- 
 ceived on the Monday alter the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul 
 14,583 livres toumois for liimself, and 5000 marks for King 
 Richard. 
 
108 SIMON BE MONT FORT. 
 
 in London, in spite of tlie royal prohibition, Simon 
 was attaching Prince Edward to himself, and that the 
 latter had declared his intention of abiding by the oath 
 he had once sworn. Henry feared, therefore, that his 
 son might be induced to aid in his dethronement ; and 
 for fourteen days he struggled against the desire to 
 admit him to his presence, conscious that if he saw 
 him, he should be unable to restrain the impulse to 
 embrace him.* It may be that Edward wavered for 
 a moment, impressed by the sacredness of his oath, 
 but very soon after the King's return the constitutional 
 party were compelled to give up their hopes of him 
 and many others. A mission to Gascony filled the 
 young and enterprising Prince with other thoughts. 
 We do not know how far Simon ventured towards so 
 hazardous a measure as a combination with the heir 
 against the father, but it is plain that he now gave 
 way before Henry ; perhaps because he had dared too 
 much, and could no longer rely upon his followers. 
 At the marriage of the Princess Beatrix with the heir 
 of Brittany, on the 13th of October, he did not dis- 
 charge the functions of steward, but Henry, son of the 
 King of the Eomans, officiated in his stead.f The 
 
 * Ann. de Dunstaplia, 214. Will. Rishanger Chronica, ed. Riley, 
 p. 9 : Iratus valde, a patris absentavit se conspectibus, adhaerens 
 Baronibus in hac parte, sicut juraverat. According to Thomas 
 Wykes, 124, King Richard, Edward, and the Barons, contradicted 
 the rumour under their respective seals. Compare Gescliichte 
 von England, iii. 738. 
 
 f L'atorne Simon de Montfort Conte de Leicestre a servir pur 
 li. Rymer, i. 402. 
 
POLITICAL OPPOSITION. 109 
 
 King, evidently well advised, succeeded in misleading 
 his subjects by the wording of his proclamations 
 against the importation of foreign mercenaries and 
 war materials, conveying the impression that he in- 
 tended faithfully to observe the Provisions of Oxford, 
 whilst, at the same time, he took up his residence in 
 the Tower with his consort, and gave orders for its 
 fortifications to be put into a state of thorough effi- 
 ciency. The breach had already widened considerably, 
 and Simon^s influence greatly declined when Henry 
 could venture to summon the Barons of the realm, 
 no longer, we may be sure, the elective committee 
 that had been forced upon him, to meet for the autumn 
 Parliament in the royal fortress. The peers declined 
 to assemble in any other place than Westminster, 
 where their meetings had been held from time imme- 
 morial,* but they thus themselves invited the long- 
 prepared attacks upon those Provisions which three 
 years earlier they had defiantly issued from an unac- 
 customed place. 
 
 When the regular parliaments and concord among 
 the nobles came to an end, the present system of 
 government was shaken in town and country. The 
 court sought by aid of its partisans among the knights 
 of the shire to recover the power of appointing sherifis. 
 When Hugh Bigod, perhaps driven to despair by the 
 course which the movement had taken, voluntarily 
 resigned his high post, and the constitutional peers 
 
 * Ubi parliamentiim tenere consueverunt, et non alibi. Ann. 
 de Dunst. 21T. 
 
110 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 put Hugli Despenser in his place, both were harassed 
 by royalist soldiers, the one at Dover, the other in 
 London. These troops had taken possession of the 
 bridges and gates in the city, and pledged all the male 
 inhabitants to support the King. A mandate of the 
 14th of March, 1261, ordered the arrest of all persons 
 who falsely asserted that the King intended to impose 
 taxes by his own authority, or arbitrarily to alter the 
 laws of the land.* Six weeks later William of Valence 
 was already restored to favour, and to the possession 
 of his estate, together with the castle of Hereford. f 
 In the old form used before the revolution of 1258, a 
 Parliament was summoned to meet in Winchester at 
 Whitsuntide, the 14th of June, and there, at last, the 
 decisive blow was struck. 
 
 Pope Alexander IV. followed the example of Inno- 
 cent III.''s dealings with King John, and absolved 
 Henry from all the obligations that had been forced 
 upon him. Whilst the Barons were united, the Curia 
 had kept silence for some years, and had not despatched 
 the Legate, for whose assistance Henry prayed so 
 earnestly when, in 1258, he was compelled to submit 
 to the estates. But the secret intercourse between 
 him and Eome was kept up without intermission. His 
 necessities forced him to crave remission of the large 
 
 * Chiefly Liber de Antiq. Legibus, 45, 46, and Kymer, i. 405. 
 Also Thomas Wykes, 125 : Ccepit proponere plures articulos 
 contra Barones, et rationes prout sibi videbatur satis ejB&caces. 
 quod non tenebatur observare Provisiones Oxonise. 
 
 j Kot Lit. Pat. 45 Henr. III. membr. 13, April 30. 
 
POLITICAL OPPOSITION. Ill 
 
 sums for wMcli lie stood pledged on account of tlie 
 Sicilian transactions^ and to pray that for God^s sake 
 tlie Pope would not insist upon the reinstalment of 
 Aimar of Lusignan in the see of Winchester.* For- 
 tunately, Aimar had died on the 13th of December, 
 1260, when the breach was widening between Leicester 
 and Gloucester, and in the interval, the Sicilian affair 
 had again been put in train at Rome. Then, on the 
 13th of April, the bull was published at the Lateran, 
 which enabled Henry to meet his Parliament in better 
 spirits, and to make perjury easy to himself and all 
 who would follow him. The bull anathematized the 
 violence that had been put upon the power and freedom 
 of the kingly dignity under pretence of reforming the 
 realm; and, by virtue of apostolic authority, it can- 
 celled the Provisions in their entire compass, with all 
 the oaths taken under the new government. "For 
 the sacredness of the oath, which ought to confirm 
 faith and truth, may not become a cement of violence 
 and iniquity.^^ Several prelates, John Mansell among 
 them, were authorised to absolve the King and his 
 house, and all persons, whether priests or Jaymen, from 
 their oaths. f 
 
 Although no formal negotiations took place at Win- 
 chester, the Earl of Gloucester and other moderately 
 disposed men now came over publicly to the King's 
 
 * Ad vitandum enorme periculum quod nobis et regno nostro 
 occasione ipsius posset iniminere. Still from St. Denis, January 
 ISth, 1260. Shirley, ii. 151. 
 
 f Rymer, i. 404, 406. 
 
112 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 side, and Henry again ventured to nominate the Great 
 Justiciary, Chancellor, and Treasurer upon his own 
 sole authority. To reinstate his sheriffs in the several 
 counties was more difficult. Conferences on the sub- 
 ject were called to Windsor, London, and Kingston, 
 but the opposite party took their stand upon the 
 Provisions of Oxford, and would recognise none but 
 their own officers; in vain the King commanded 
 his lieges to expel the present sheriffs, in vain a mixed 
 committee for months discussed a compromise, until, 
 as a desperate resource. King Richard was requested 
 to arbitrate. At Easter, 1262, he delivered his judg- 
 ment, to the effect that the King alone had power, as 
 of old, freely to appoint and dismiss all judicial and ad- 
 ministrative officers. Hereupon a desultory war broke 
 out in the country, and both parties strove to inflame 
 it and make it general by importing French merce- 
 naries. An amnesty was proclaimed for the Earls of 
 Norfolk, Leicester, and Warenne and eleven other 
 nobles, who had all belonged to the committee of 
 twenty-four, on condition that they signed and sealed 
 a renunciation of the Provisions by Whitsuntide, 1262, 
 but neither this measure, nor the renewal by Pope 
 Urban IV. of the bull promulgated by his predecessor, 
 produced the desired effect.* The court party had 
 long recognised the fact that without other assistance 
 neither Papal mandates nor the means at the disposal 
 
 * Shirley ii, 192 ; Oct. 18, 196 ; Dec. 6. Rymer, i. 411 ; Dec. 
 7. Compare Gescliichte von England, iii. 742, and the detailed 
 survey in Stubbs, Const. Hist. ii. 84-86. 
 
POLITICAL OPPOSITION. 113 
 
 of the King's adherents were sufficient to coerce and 
 subdue the defenders of the statutes of 1258, with the 
 support which they could fall back upon in the 
 country. 
 
 The Earl of Leicester, the leader of the constitu- 
 tional party from the time when Gloucester and others 
 had renounced fellowship with him, did not give up 
 the game as hopeless. For a while longer he main- 
 tained a defiant attitude, relying upon his foreign 
 horsemen, whose importation the King vainly forbade, 
 and with the Countess he resumed the contest for the 
 jointure.* We do not know whether he appeared in 
 person at Winchester, London, or Kingston, but he 
 went to France as early as the summer of 1261 ; it was 
 rumoured among the people that he had sworn a vow to 
 live in poverty and exile rather than be faithless to the 
 truth,t but the real object of his journey was to appeal 
 as a claimant of equal standing to the same foreign 
 power as the King, his adversary. 
 
 On the 14th of March, before he ventured to emanci- 
 pate himself by Papal aid, Henry had agreed with 
 Simon and Eleanor to refer their personal quarrel to 
 the decision of the pious and upright French King, 
 and if he declined the office, to Queen Margaret, as- 
 
 * Datum est intelUgi quod Simon de Monteforti comes Leyces- 
 trise nititur introducere in regnum nostrum gentem extraneam 
 cum armis contra nos. Rymer, i, 406; May 28, 1261. Compare 
 Mrs. Green, Princesses, ii, 129. 
 
 f Ann. de Dunst. 217, dicens, se sine terra raalle mori, quam 
 perjurus a veritate recedere. 
 
 I 
 
114 ' SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 sisted by the renowned French jurist, Pierre le Cham- 
 brelain.* The verdict was expected by the end of 
 June, for Margarets reply promised to despatch the 
 business as soon as the parties appeared, either in per- 
 son or by their attorneys. But Louis IX., who was 
 impartial towards the Earl as well as towards Henry, 
 perceived that the dispute to be decided went far be- 
 yond certain money claims, and the publication of the 
 bull at Winchester confirmed his opinion to certainty. 
 Already on the 21st of April, he pronounced the 
 statements of the two parties to be irreconcilable.f 
 Soon afterwards, however, on the 20ih of July, Henry, 
 now admitting the political differences,! again solicited 
 the queen^s mediation. A little later the Earl of 
 Leicester hastened privately to the French court, where 
 he was known and esteemed, that he might there ad- 
 vance his own and his adherent's cause. A letter of the 
 2nd of September from Henry to Louis expressed the 
 alarm awakened by this news, || and begged earnestly that 
 
 * Nos Henris, i^ar la grace Deu rois Dangleterre, et nos Simon 
 de Muntfort et Alienor, cuens et contesse de Leycestre. Now 
 printed, Sliirley, ii. 168. Also the letter to Louis of the 17th of 
 March, p. 170, 171. Upon Pierre de Fontaines compare Histoire 
 Litteraire de France, xix. 131 et sq. 
 
 f Green, Princesses, ii, 121 ; compare Shirley, ii. 173. 
 
 I Pro facto nos et barones nostros, et specialiter S. de M. 
 comitem L. et Alienoram comitissam L., sororem nostram contin- 
 gente ; Bymer, i. 407. Also the Patent of the 5th of July, Sliirley, 
 ii. 176, which appoints Hugh Duke of Burgundy and Pierre le 
 Chambrelain as mediators. 
 
 II Ob quam tamen causam, cum id de nostra conscientia non 
 processerit, penitus igTioramus, Rymer, i. 409, 
 
POLITICAL OPPOSITION. 115 
 
 neither Simon nor others of his party might be admitted 
 until the royal messengers arrived to explain the position 
 of affairs to Louis. There were no immediate results^ 
 because at this time the prospects of the royalists in 
 England certainly appeared to brighten. It was not 
 till all amicable attempts to propitiate the fourteen 
 Earls and Barons had signally failed^ that a dread took 
 possession of the King's soul lest Simon should con- 
 trive his ruin whilst at Paris, where he seems to have 
 passed the winter. To his terror he learnt that the 
 Barons were even seeking to influence the court of 
 Rome,* as if they were still the rulers of England. 
 He sent urgent commands to his procurators immedi- 
 ately to anticipate and counteract their attempts. On 
 the 17th of May, 1262, Louis IX. himself communi- 
 cated to him that, to his great regret, he saw no means 
 of making peace for him,t whereupon Henry has- 
 tily prepared to go himself to France. His brother-in- 
 law liouis had given him friendly aid in his pecuniary 
 necessity, and shut his eyes to the proceedings of the 
 Count of St. Pol and other French noblemen who were 
 embarking their squires and soldiers for England to 
 assist in the subjugation of his refractory subjects ; 
 Henry therefore hoped by his presence to secure at last 
 
 * Cum . . . quidam de regno nostro agentes in curia Romana in 
 nostri juris et honoris prsejudicium diversa suggerere et contra 
 nos impetrare prsesumant et intendant, etc. May 26th 1262, to 
 the procurators Hemingford and Lovel. Shirley, ii. 210. 
 
 t Ad prsesens non inveiiire possumus aliquam viam pacis ; 
 Rjiner, i. 416, and ChampoUion Figeac, Lettres, i. 13 o, 
 
 ' I 2 
 
116 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 a favourable verdict, if not the open and permanent 
 support of the French crown. 
 
 Other reasons urged him to set out speedily upon 
 this journey. His heir, Prince Edward, who was 
 strolling from one to another of the knightly courts 
 of southern France and Burgundy, in the company of 
 his two young cousins, Simon and Henry de Montfort, 
 still appeared to shun his father and his policy of 
 restoration. In July the entire English Court, in- 
 cluding Edward and his brother Edmund, the Sicilian 
 candidate, met in Paris, and concord was re-established 
 in the bosom of the royal family; but an interview 
 with the Earl of Leicester, proposed by Queen Mar- 
 garet,* for the purpose of discharging the duty that she 
 had undertaken, was prevented, on the one hand, by 
 an obstinate fever which confined Henry to his bed at 
 St. Germain, whilst Montfort, on his side, withdrew 
 skilfully and craftily. The King^s absence was to him 
 a welcome summons to show himself in England, as it 
 had been two years earlier. Moreover, his rival, 
 Richard of Gloucester, had died on the 15th of July, 
 and his son and heir. Earl Gilbert, prevented by his 
 mother from taking an oath of allegiance to the King, 
 had adopted the cause of the Barons. f Through the 
 faults, the weakness, and the falsehood of the opposite 
 party, Leicester's prospects, sufficiently gloomy 
 hitherto, appeared to brighten once more. Henry 
 
 * ChampoUion Figeac, Lettres, i. 130 ; compare Green's Prin- 
 cesses, ii. 122. 
 
 t Instigante matre sua; Thos. Wykes, 140. 
 
POLITICAL OPPOSITION. 117 
 
 fully recognised the danger of this new move ; and, as 
 the Justiciary and Chancellor were governing the king- 
 dom in his absence, he hastily notified them of the 
 EarPs departure, that they might prepare to oppose his 
 design ; he announced to them also his own resolve to 
 desist from these proceedings against Simon, since no 
 progress could be made towards a conclusion of the 
 compromise negotiated by the French Queen.* 
 Nevertheless, he remained abroad until the 20th of 
 December, fruitlessly endeavouring to obtain efi'ectual 
 support from the court of France. He sent for the 
 crown jewels that he might deposit them with the 
 Templars as pledge for an indispensable loan. Even 
 after his return, he trusted that Louis would make 
 terms in his favour with the Earl of Leicester, and 
 that after all the troubles Simon had already brought 
 upon the kingdom, the work that had been set on foot 
 might not end in yet greater calamity.! Again, on 
 the 5th of February, 1263, he wrote to Queen Margaret 
 to stimulate her zeal, which was somewhat doubted 
 even in France. J Then the unhappy prince fell as 
 from the clouds; for, under the date of the 16th, his 
 
 * Quia compromissum nuper initum inter nos et comitem 
 Leycestrise coram Regina Franciae non processit nee habemus 
 in consiho per illam viam ulterius procedere contra eum, Oct. Sth, 
 Rymer, 1. 422. 
 
 t Henry to Louis, Jan. 18, 1263, through John de Cliishull, 
 Archdeacon of London, and Imbert of Montfen-ant. Shirley, 
 ii. 234. 
 
 I Shirley, ii. 235, 239. 
 
118 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 ambassadors informed him of a communication from 
 King Lonis^ to the effect tliat lie had conferred with 
 the Earl of Leicester, who declared in reasonable 
 terms that, though the King's intentions were of the 
 best, there were those about him who had no desire 
 for a pacification, and would even prefer that none 
 should be concluded. The Earl, therefore, could not 
 honourably enter into the agreement, and he had 
 besought the French King to give himself at present 
 no further trouble.* 
 
 No disappointment could have been more bitter if 
 Henry really deceived himself with the hope of being 
 thus rid of his worst enemy. Twice he had so far 
 humiliated himself as to allow him to pass for his 
 equal. Twice he had applied to a tribunal which well- 
 nigh bore the character of a family council, and yet at 
 the same time had to take cognisance of a question the 
 national defenders of which could least of all recognise 
 the King of France as supreme arbitrator. Louis's 
 tardiness suggests the possibility that permanent dis- 
 union in the insular kingdom appeared desirable in his 
 eyes. As Henry still did not venture to appeal to 
 him in the political dispute likewise, he let both parties 
 
 * Idem comes prsedictum dominum regem Frg-nciae rogavit 
 quod, ad prsesens, circa prsemissa iilterius non laboravit. Report 
 of the ambassadors Cliishull and Montferrant, Data Parisiis in 
 crastino cinerum. This report is dated 1262 by Rymer, i. 416, 
 and I followed his authority in Gesch. von England, iii. 744. 
 Now, because of the dated letter of Januarj^ 18th, wliich mentions 
 the same messengers, it is referred to the following year. Shirley, 
 ii. 242. 
 
POLITICAL OPPOSITION. 119 
 
 go their own way without direct interference ; but lie 
 gave the Earl a new pretext for defending the sinking 
 cause of the English estates by all available means, 
 especially by calling to its aid those popular forces 
 which had long been aroused in its favour. Simon 
 employed them with an incomparable boldness which 
 was to make his name glorious then and in after ages. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR AND MONTFORT'S 
 PROTECTORATE. 
 
 ORGANS OF POPULAR OPINION — SIMON AT THE HEAD OF 
 
 THE KNIGHTHOOD MARCH TO LONDON — THE KING 
 
 FORCED TO RECOGNISE THE PROVISIONS TAKES UP 
 
 ARMS IN VAIN LOUIS IX. GIVES AN ARBITREMENT IN 
 
 THE king's FAVOUR, AMIENS, JANUARY 23, 1264 
 
 CONCURRENCE OF THE POPE OUTBREAK OF THE CIVIL 
 
 WAR, HENRY III. IN OXFORD, SIMON IN NORTH- 
 AMPTON LONDON ON THE SIDE OF SIMON BATTLE 
 
 OF LEWES, MAY 14 KING AND REALM IN- THE POWER 
 
 OF THE VICTORS ADMINISTRATION OF THE EARL 
 
 CONCEPTIONS OF A CONSTITUTIONAL COMPACT. 
 
 The lower nobility, the lesser crown vassals of 
 Norman descent, as well as the Anglo-Saxon gentry, 
 were much exasperated by the haughty neglect of 
 the great Barons, and many of them, who had been 
 trained in judicial and administrative offices, remained 
 loyal to the crown. Among the great merchants of 
 the City there was also a strong royalist party to which 
 
CIVIL WAR AND PROTECTORATE. 121 
 
 belonged many an honourable alderman, such as 
 Arnold^ Thedmar^s son, the author of some interesting 
 memoirs on the contemporary history of the town. 
 The heads of the clergy, at least, abstained as far as 
 they were able from participation in the struggle. 
 But the great body of knights, citizens, and clergy had 
 long been eager to uproot the abuses which grew out 
 of the union of monarchical and Papal absolutism, 
 and were injurious to all alike. Even the peasant, the 
 drudge of all, was beginning to listen to voices which 
 proclaimed to the people through the mouth of skilful 
 teachers the dawn of a better time. A great longing 
 for an alleviation of their lot prevailed in all classes ; 
 the greed and tyranny in high places appeared as a 
 common enemy,* against whom the day of revolt was 
 at last breaking. ' The idea of remedying the evils of 
 the time by a general and peaceful national measure 
 struck deep root. The Franciscans, the mendicant 
 friars in general, and the humbler secular clergy, had 
 been the first to proclaim the need for moral regenera- 
 tion and social reform. They were admitted to the 
 courts of the great and the cottages of the poor ; they 
 carefully observed the course of events and awakened 
 new and eager aspirations at the universities. Now 
 ertain organs of public opinion originated among 
 
 * Mimdi status hodie multum variatur, 
 Semper in detenus misere mutatur ; 
 Nam ^qiii parcit nemini, quique plus lucratur, , 
 
 Die plus dilectus est et phis commendatur. 
 
 Wright, PoUtical Songs, p. 47. 
 
122 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 them, chiefly in the form of political rhymes — rough 
 but popular — full of bitter satire^ but no less full of 
 sound and wholesome truth. The predominance of 
 Latin betrayed the clerical pen. Popular staves in 
 English were addressed to the ear of the multitude, 
 who could not read, and yet began to concern them- 
 selves with public interests. The habits of study and 
 discipline practised by the learned brotherhoods at 
 Oxford were closely connected with the aspirations 
 whence sprang those political theories that, some 
 years earlier, had found expression at the same place 
 in legal reform. The same popular pulse beat in the 
 religious as in the political movement, and no man 
 had greater share in either than Simon de Montfort. 
 In proportion as he won the confidence of knights 
 and citizens, of the middle classes, as we should say, 
 he could the more easily assert that position of power 
 and authority towards which violent ambition doubt- 
 less spurred him. Though itself without legal warrant, 
 it was in the eyes of many the sole remaining way of 
 escape from the tyranny of an unlimited and faithless 
 monarchy. 
 
 As early as the summer of 1261, when the committee 
 of the estates were still struggling desperately with 
 the King for the right to appoint sheriffs, the experi- 
 ment had been tried of inviting three knights from every 
 shire, representatives of the knighthood (Bachelleria), 
 to the Barons' Parliament at St. Albans on the 21st of 
 September.* Henry thwarted the project by forbidding 
 * Stubbs, Select Charters, 405 ; Const. Hist. ii. 85. 
 
CIVIL WAR AND PROTECTORATE. 12a 
 
 the counties south of the Trent to comply with the 
 decree, and summoning the delegates of the knights 
 to appear before him at Windsor instead.* This 
 experiment came to an end when concord ceased 
 among the Barons, and the King was apparently suc- 
 cessful ; now, when Henry's situation had again 
 become critical it was not easy to revert to it. Such 
 a course of action must first be initiated as would win 
 back the confidence of the country, which the great 
 nobles had repeatedly forfeited, and no man was able 
 to do this but Leicester. He had to convince the 
 people that the Provisions of Oxford had never been 
 given up by their authors, and that they would redound 
 to the advantage, not of an oligarchical confederacy, 
 but of the whole community. For this purpose he 
 chose a fortunate moment when he had been freed 
 from his formidable rival by the death of the elder 
 Gloucester, when, in consequence of the same event, 
 the Prince of Wales had made another incursion upon 
 the western marches, and when King Henry, having 
 failed to shake Louis's impartiality, returned home 
 more helpless and destitute than ever. The Earl's 
 personal presence produced an exactly opposite efiect 
 to the King's. His ardent words and his talent for 
 
 * Cum ex parte episcopi Wygorniensis, comitum Leycestriae 
 et Gloucestrise, et quorimdam aliorum procerum regni nostri 
 vocati sunt tres milites de singulis comitatibus nostris, quod sint 
 coram ipsis apud S. Albanum in instanti festo S. Matthaei apos- 
 toli, secum tractaturi super communibus negotiis regni nostri. 
 Sept. 11th, 1261. Shirley, ii. 179. 
 
124 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 organization reunited the scattered fragments of the 
 party, and youths of knightly birth"^ above all looked 
 up with enthusiasm to their hero when, at the begin- 
 ning of 1263, he collected his forces and assumed the 
 attitude of an independent commander about to inter- 
 pose between Prince Edward and Prince Llewellyn of 
 Wales. Edward had at last given heed to his father's 
 reproaches, and left the festivities of the continent in 
 order to defend the border districts conferred upon 
 him. On behalf of himself,' his son Henry, his cousin 
 Peter de Montfort, and other knights and barons, 
 Simon published a declaration on the 4th of March, 
 under the seal of Bishop Walter of Worcester, to the 
 effect that they would abstain from hostilities against 
 the Prince until mid-Lent, and were ready to negotiate 
 a friendly accommodation with hiDi.f With reference 
 to the Provisions, King Henry promised once more to 
 accept a committee composed of Norfolk, Leicester, 
 Hugh Bigod, and Philip Basset ; but this again was 
 merely a feint to gain time whilst his energetic son 
 received oaths of allegiance in all the counties, and 
 Henry imported as many foreign mercenaries as 
 possible for his own army, whilst the ports were 
 closed to those of the opposite party. 
 
 *Juniores AngHae . . . tanquam cera liquescens ductiles 
 ad quamhbet formam cum quibusdam baronibus, says Thos. 
 Wykes, 134. 
 
 f Et ahi barones et milites sibi adhserentes . . . quo magis 
 inter ipsum et nos cum commoditate majori valeat tractari de 
 pace. Shirley, ii. 245. 
 
CIVIL WAR AND PROTECTORATE. 125 
 
 Then Earl Simon ventured publicly to take up arms. 
 He ordered his forces to meet in Oxford at Whitsun- 
 tide, and here the English nobility gathered in yet 
 greater numbers than in 1258. The Earl de Warenne 
 and, at first, even Henry, Richard^s son, did not absent 
 themselves. As if the native chivalry could at last 
 avenge themselves upon the venal foreign instruments 
 of an insupportable despotism,* they pressed for- 
 ward along the Welsh frontier from one fortified place 
 to another, chastised Bishop Peter of Hereford, a 
 Savoyard of Aquabella, and drove away the foreign 
 sherifis and governors of castles; who for the most part 
 adhered to the King. Prince Edward could not march 
 against them, for Simon left the Welsh prince un- 
 checked, and succeeded in winning the sympathy of 
 the towns. Violence and plunder could not be avoided, 
 but adventurers rushed the more eagerly to join the 
 army ; it soon extended its avenging march across the 
 island to the eastern counties, and then turned threaten- 
 ingly towards the south, where lay the most important 
 strongholds of the crown. The greatest enthusiasm 
 for the leader prevailed in the ranks. It was probably 
 at this time that some knight or noble composed the 
 song which celebrated his name, 'The Strong Citadel,' 
 above all other because he loved the right and hated 
 wrong. The whole nation greeted him jubilantly 
 because he had imprisoned the Bishop " who would 
 
 *Indignati Angligense ... ad expellendum alienigenas . . . 
 uno animo properabant. Ann. de Burton, p. 500. 
 
126 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 have devoured all English people. Therefore he should 
 have lordship/'* 
 
 Simon encamped his array at Dover, whence he 
 could best command the Channel, and in June he sent 
 a writ under his seal to the citizens of London, by the 
 hand of the knight Eoger Clifford. He thereby 
 invited them to proclaim the Provisions of Oxford, 
 which had been issued to promote the glory of God, 
 loyalty to the King, and the weal of the whole realm.f 
 In a tumultuous popular assembly the citizens set 
 aside the hesitation of royalist aldermen of the ruling 
 families, and vehemently cheered their Mayor, Thomas 
 Fitz-Thomas, when he proposed to comply with the 
 EarPs request. Again the King's cause was ruined. 
 He had shut himself up in the Tower with his family 
 and court when an accommodation was proposed to 
 
 * II est apele de Monfort, 
 II est el mond et si est foi-t, 
 Si ad grant chevalerie ; 
 Ge voir, et je m'acort, 
 II eime dreit, et het le tort, 
 Si avera la mestrie. 
 
 El mond est vereement. 
 
 La ou la comun a ly concent 
 
 De la terre loee ; 
 C'est ly quens de Leycestre, 
 Que baut et joins se puet estre 
 De cele renomee. 
 
 Wright, PoUtical Songs, p. 61. 
 f Liber de Antiq. Leg. 54, statuta facta ad honorem Dei, ad 
 tidera Domini regis, et ad utilitatem totius regni. 
 
CIVIL WAR AND PROTECTORATE. 127 
 
 hitn from various quarters. On the 29tli of June the 
 Bishop of Winchester addressed the King's Chancellor, 
 Walter of Merton, with an urgent request that he 
 would help in promoting the peace of the kingdom. 
 On the same day King Richard was negotiating with 
 the army, which in the meantime had taken up a 
 position on the Thames above London. At court he 
 urgently advised that some restraint should be put 
 upon his nephew Edward, who had violently broken 
 into the Temple and taken £1000 from the treasure 
 chest.* But, on the following day, Richard announced 
 that the Earl had eluded a conference, and withdrawn 
 between Reading and Guildford,t evidently in order 
 that the pressure of the capital might work with 
 greater effect. He was not mistaken, for in a few 
 days the unchained fury of the populace forced the 
 most hated of all the counsellors, John Mansell, to a 
 precipitate flight down the Thames and across the 
 Channel. Through all changes he had been the soul 
 of the resistance at court, and innumerable benefices 
 had been sacrificed to his greed. Henry, son of the 
 King of the Romans, pursued him, and was taken 
 prisoner by a French nobleman, whereupon his father 
 threatened to make terms independently with the 
 Barons, unless the King would consent to negotiate, 
 
 * Two letters of Richard's, Ryiner, i. 427. The second also 
 Sliirley, ii. 247. Compare Ann. de Diinst., 222. 
 
 \ Shirley, ii. 248. On the 16th a royal safe conduct had 
 been despatched for Simon. Rot. Lit. Pat. 47 Henr. III. 
 membr. 8. 
 
128 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 and himself guarantee Henry's release.* The King 
 immediately gave his word, with his usual intention of 
 disregarding it. Meanwhile, Edward, with some faith- 
 ful troops, had succeeded in seizing the royal fortress 
 of Windsor, and his mother. Queen Eleanor, intended 
 to join him by water. Her strength of will was much 
 greater than her husband's, and precisely for that 
 reason, and on account of her Provengal and Savoyard 
 kinsfolk who had taken up their abode in the country, 
 she was the special object of popular hatred. On the 
 1 3th of July, as she sailed through London Bridge, 
 the people compelled her to turn back by scornful 
 abuse and actual violence. 
 
 The Earl of Leicester had waited for such events as 
 these, and on the 15tli he entered the capital at the 
 head of his army, like a conqueror, amid shouts of 
 rejoicing and ringing of bells. The gates of the 
 Tower were opened to him now, and the King, reduced 
 to submit to his will, again assented to the humiliating 
 Provisions. Delegates elected by the two parties were 
 to consult together as to what must be added to the 
 Provisions, and what taken away, for the good of the 
 sovereign and the kingdom. f It was a significant fact 
 
 - Eichard from Berkhamsteacl, July 10th ; Eymer, i. 427. The 
 King from the Tower, also July 10th ; Eot. Lit. Pat. 47 Henr. 
 III. membr. 7. 
 
 t Ita quod per quosdam electos ad hoc statuta Oxoniae per 
 dicta eorum deberent augmentari vel diminui, prout utilitati 
 regis et regni expediret. Ann. de Dunst. 224. A royal order 
 of the 18th commands Edward to deliver up the Castle of Dover 
 
Gli^IL WAR AND PROTECTORATE. 129 
 
 that the servants of the Church, the Bishops of London, 
 Lincoln, Coventry and Lichfield, as well as Worcester, 
 used their influence in furtherance of this agreement. 
 When Prince Edward had hastened from Windsor 
 towards the Welsh border, and narrowly escaped 
 capture by the citizens of Bristol, Worcester even 
 induced him, though in extreme ill-humour, to turn 
 back to London. There, in St. PauFs church, on the 
 9th of September, the spiritual and temporal peers 
 assembled in Parliament, swore to recognise the con- 
 stitution which the conquerors proposed. The King 
 once more took up his residence in Westi?iinster, after 
 he had dismissed his officers, and again confirmed 
 Nicolas of Ely and Hugh Despenser as Chancellor and 
 Great Justiciary; but Simon de Montfort actually 
 governed the kingdom in his name."^ 
 
 Nevertheless, his success was as insecure and as 
 short lived as it had been five years earlier, and he 
 was compelled to^ yield still offcener to the opposition 
 of others. The nobility of Northern England did not 
 give him their support, but rather invited the King to 
 throw himself into their arms. Prince Edward, 
 who had wildly attempted much more than he was 
 
 to the Bishop of London. The opening words are, Quia pax 
 inter nos et barones nostros reformata est et firmata. Rymer, 1. c. 
 * The great seal was delivered up to Nicolas of Ely on the 
 19th of July at Westminster in prnesentia S. de Monteforti 
 Comitis Leicestrise et aliorum Magnatum Angliae. Kot. Lit. 
 Claus. 47 Henr. III. membr. 6. For the proofs of these events, 
 see Gesch. v. England, iii. 7/49, and Stubbs, Const. Hist. ii. 8G, 87. 
 
 K 
 
130 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 able to accomplish, only acquiesced in his fate under 
 compulsion, and became almost immediately the rally- 
 ing point for many knights and barons who, ill- 
 pleased by the recent violent changes and the 
 imperious and illegal position of him whom they 
 had placed at the head of affairs,* already contem- 
 plated another revolution. Even of those who had 
 made themselves prominent by their vehemence in the 
 persecution of aliens, some now deserted, as Leiburne, 
 Vaux, and Bigod. The restless Henry, King Richard^s 
 son, who after his return from the French coast had 
 been commissioned, with some others of these nobles, 
 to pledge Edward to observe the Statutes,t presently 
 declared to Leicester that he should never again draw 
 his sword against the two Kings, his father and uncle, 
 against his blood relations. He requested his dismis- 
 sion, promising at the same time not to appear in 
 arms against the Earl, who replied : " Your sword 
 troubles me not. Lord Henry, but your instability. 
 Go, therefore, and come again with thy weapons, for I 
 surely do not fear them. J 
 
 Under these circumstances King Henry meditated 
 another meeting with Louis IX., a project which he 
 could not have entertained if it had been possible for 
 
 '''' Comes quippe Leicestrise omni poene nobilimn regni 
 caterva subnixus erexit sibi cornua superbise, moHendo grandia, 
 cogitando sublimia, nee permisit ejus improbitas quod aliquatenus 
 flecteretur ad pacem, writes the royalist Thos. Wykes, p. 136. 
 
 f Rymer, i. 430. 
 
 . Rislianger, Chronica, 13, ed. Riley. 
 
CIVIL WAR AND PROTECTORATE. 131 
 
 him wlio had assumed the direction of the government 
 
 to prevent the journey. Although when the royal family 
 
 were formally invited to Boulogne, the Barons caused 
 
 the King to swear that after a brief conference he 
 
 would return with all speed, and although he himself 
 
 requested the Earl to accompany him,* even Simon's 
 
 presence could not prevent an attack upon his 
 
 authority being concerted at the instigation of the 
 
 Queen. She remained behind in France, whilst 
 
 Henry, immediately after his punctual return home, 
 
 began to disturb the peace that he had been 
 
 compelled to conclude by demanding a compensation 
 
 for the dispossessed foreigners, and dismissing the 
 
 counsellors who had been forced upon him. The breach 
 
 was then soon complete. At the beginning of 
 
 December the father and son found themselves so 
 
 far prepared, that they could march suddenly from 
 
 Windsor against Dover, and, after an attack upon this 
 
 most important key of the kingdom had failed, 
 
 attempt by a bold and rapid movement to regain 
 
 possession of the capital. Being in correspondence 
 
 with four prominent burgesses, they had chosen 
 
 the moment when Simon was absent at Kenilworth 
 
 Castle, the defence of which, after it was well fortified 
 
 and provisioned, he had intrusted to his wife.f He 
 
 -'' Henry to Louis, Aug. 16th, barones nostri ex certis causis 
 volunt securitatem sibi prsestari de reditu nostro festino ; Rymer, 
 i. 429. Henrj^ to Simon, Sept. 16th, invitation to be in Boulogne 
 on the 23rd ; Shirley, ii . 249. 
 
 f Green, Princesses, ii. 124. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 SIMON' DE MONTFORT. 
 
 narrowly escaped capture by the enemy in South- 
 wark as he hastened back^ but the Londoners 
 voluntarily opened the gate of their bridge to him 
 and stifled the disaffection which was striving to 
 make itself felt in their midst. The King now 
 commanded them in vain to expel the Earls of 
 Leicester and Derby (Robert de Ferrers), with their 
 troops,, from the town.^ 
 
 Thus violence and treachery, defiance and cowardice, 
 were again matched against one another. Though 
 agitated and excited, the liegemen of England still did 
 not venture to wreak their fury upon their own 
 flesh and blood, but at the same time they and the 
 crown were equally unable to devise for themselves 
 any expedient whereby to secure peace. Now, 
 at last, Louis IX. declared himself ready to bring 
 the affair in its entire compass under the consideration 
 of his tribunal. Probably the last royalist rising had 
 been intended to prepare the way for this arrangement, 
 and the meeting at Boulogne had laid the basis. f 
 On Sunday, the 16th of December, Henry III., 
 Prince Edward and their adherents, declared from 
 
 * Quatinus ... ad perturbationem predicti regni nostri 
 cum equis et armis commorantes visis litteris istis sine dilatione 
 ahqua amoveatis ab eadem, Dec. 8th. Now printed, Sliirley, ii. 
 250. 
 
 f Archbishop Boniface, the Queen's uncle, was also in Paris, 
 in sermonibus publicis tam apud Prsedicatores quam apud 
 Minores regis Anglise comitis que Leicestrise processus gestaque 
 declaravit. Nicolai Trivet. Annales, 254 (Engl. Hist. Society). 
 
CIVIL WAR AND PROTECTORATE. 133 
 
 Windsor that, if the verdict upon tlie Provisions 
 of Oxford and all contested points arising thence 
 were given before Whitsuntide, they would accept 
 unconditionally the decision of the French King. 
 Leicester and his party had been obliged to execute a 
 deed of similar purport on the 13th.* From these 
 documents the inconstancy of the individual Barons 
 and the groups they formed_, are more evident than 
 before. To the King adhered, besides his son and 
 nephew, the heads of the most noble houses, as 
 the Earls of Norfolk, Warenne, and Hereford, William 
 of Valence, who was not to be driven away, and 
 twenty-six others ; amongst them the northern Barons, 
 Percy, Nevil, Vaux, Marmion, Bruce, and Baliol, but 
 also Bigod, Basset, Leiburne, and many another 
 who had once declared himself a supporter of the 
 Statutes of Oxford. With Simon, on the other hand, 
 besides the Bishops of London and Worcester, were 
 the Great Justiciary Despenser, two young Montforts, 
 the cousin Peter, and seventeen more. The list in- 
 cluded such names as Humphrey de Bohun, the 
 heir of Hereford and Essex, Basset, Eoss, Grey, 
 Vescy, Lascy, and Yipont. Younger sons predomi- 
 nated in this company, and natives of the southern part 
 of the island.f 
 
 * Super pro visionibus, ordinationibus, statutis et obhgationibus 
 omnibus Oxoniensibus, et super omnibus contentionibus et 
 discordiis quas habemus et habuimus usque ad festum Omnium 
 Sanctorum. The deeds, Rymer, i. 433, 434; and Shirley, ii. 251. 
 
 t See the references in Stubbs, Const. Hist. ii. 87, 88. 
 
134 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 Immediately after Christmas tlie King and liis son, 
 witli a numerous following_, repaired to Amiens, tlie 
 place named in the writs. Earl Simon had likewise 
 started from Kenilworth and reached Catesby in 
 Northamptonshire, but there he broke his thigh bone 
 by a fall from his horse, and was thus compelled to 
 remain at home. On the 31st December, Humphrey 
 de Bohun the younger, Henry and Peter de Montfort, 
 Adam of Newmarket, William Marshall, William le 
 Blond, and three clerks experienced in affairs, were 
 deputed to represent his cause.* Louis heard the 
 advocates on both sides, and on the 23rd of January, 
 1264, he solemnly and formally delivered his judg- 
 ment, the so-called Misa of Amiens. He cancelled 
 the Provisions, already declared null and void by the 
 Pope, with all constitutional law that might be , 
 deduced from them, because they were derogatory 
 to the power and dignity of the crown, and had 
 caused dissension in the kingdom, spoliation of 
 the Church, and great injury to all private persons, 
 whether lay or clerical, native or foreign. The 
 observance of them, or even continued legislation 
 based upon them, was forbidden, and all covenants that 
 the King had been forced to make were repealed. 
 Louis further ruled that all fortresses must be restored 
 to Henry without any pledge or security, and 
 
 * Arm. de Diinst. 227, and Simon's credential from the Paris 
 archives printed in the Chronicle published by Halliwell under 
 the name of Rishanger (the Chronicle of William de Rislianger 
 of the Barons' War, Camden Society, 1840), p. 122. 
 
CIVIL WAR AND PROTECTORATE. 135 
 
 absolute liberty accorded bim to cboose eitber aben or 
 native ministers for all offices wbetber bigb or low^ 
 and to appoint and dismiss tbem at will. No guaran- 
 tees remained against tbe complete restoration of tbe 
 monarcb^s personal autbority_, except tbat tbe cbarters 
 and francbises granted before 1258 were left un- 
 toucbed by tbe Misa, and an amnesty was promised 
 for all tbat bad occurred since tbat date.* 
 
 All contemporaries must bave foreseen tbat tbe ver- 
 dict of St. Louis, of bim wbo bad augmented bis own 
 kingdom and was regarded as tbe glory and ornament 
 of monarcby, would surely be favourable to unlimited 
 sovereignty. Moreover, as Henry's brotber-in-law, 
 be could not be an impartial judge. But did tbe 
 Barons really entertain tbe bope tbat be would decide 
 in tbeir favour ? Was tbeir acquiescence in tbis 
 transaction merely apparent ? Or was tbere not 
 incitement to renewed resistance in tbe sentence 
 wbicb annibilated tbeir work ? Tbe application • 
 made by Henry to an alien King was practically an 
 indirect petition for belp, and brougbt more dis- 
 grace upon bim in tbe eyes of tbe nation tban tbey, 
 tbe representatives of national independence, could 
 incur by refusing to accept tbis foreign decision. And 
 if tbey yielded all otber points and again trusted to 
 tbeir ancient privileges, tbe unconditional return of 
 insatiable foreign parasites would be a transgression 
 
 * The judgment in Rymer, i. 433, Stubbs, Select Charters, 
 406, also in the Paris archives and in a communication to the 
 City of London in the Liber de Antiq. Leg. 59. 
 
136 SIMON DE MONTFOBT. 
 
 against the law of nature, and no arbitrator in the 
 world could insist upon it. Not only was the national 
 party incensed by so unreasonable a demand; the 
 royalists in England themselves called it hasty and 
 imprudent.* The many voices which did homage to 
 the popular cause attributed the blame, according to 
 the rumour of the day, sometimes to the two Queens 
 of England and France, sometimes to direct bribes to 
 which Louis had yielded. f There were even distant 
 hints at his secret wish to sow the seeds of new and 
 disastrous strife. 
 
 If he really allowed himself to be bought, it was for 
 a prize situated in a totally different place, and not only 
 costing the King of England nothing, but even greatly 
 relieving his embarrassments. On the 28th of July, 
 1263, J Pope Urban IV. had released Henry from all 
 obligations undertaken by him on account of the Sici- 
 lian crown promised to his son Edmund, and at the 
 same time he cast his eye upon Louisas brother. Count 
 Charles of Anjou, as the fittest person to overthrow 
 the last offshoots of the Hohenstaufen family. The 
 Misa of Amiens declared expressly that the Holy 
 Father was ever the supreme arbitrator of the fate of 
 
 * Forte minus sapienter et inutiliter qiiam deceret eructatione 
 si quidem improvisa suum prsecipitavit arbitriiim. Th. Wykes, 
 139. 
 
 t O rex Francorum, multorum causa dolorum. 
 Judex non rectus ideo fis jure rejectus. 
 M.S. Cott. OthoD. viii. quoted b^Blaauw. The Barons' War, 
 1844, p. 98. 
 
 I Rymer, i. 428. 
 
CIVIL WAR AND PROTECTORATE. " 137 
 
 kingdoms. His jurisdiction extended over the Norman 
 State of the north, where the devout King must be pro- 
 tected against the eager desires of his subjects for 
 parliamentary government, and over that of the south, 
 where an unruly and ever accursed race of princes was 
 to be expelled. As neighbour and suzerain the French 
 King had always a word to interpose in the constitu- 
 tional struggle, and his real power was great enough 
 to restrain the two parties from open and bloody war 
 up to this date. But the decision in the last instance 
 lay with Urban. Quite in accordance with the tactics 
 of his predecessor, who had justified Henry III.^s first 
 perjury in anticipation, and in some measure as prelim- 
 inary to the repeal of the Oxford articles by the King 
 of France, Urban had during the summer of 1 263 re- 
 peatedly reminded the English that all which they at- 
 tained by conspiracy was as tares sown by the Evil one, 
 and therefore long ago condemned by the Holy See. 
 On the 27th of November, as arranged in a diplomatic 
 agreement, he issued a mandate for the preaching of a 
 crusade against the English rebels, and wrote threaten- 
 ingly to the Earl of Leicester, " the ringleader of the 
 revolt, who had so basely degenerated from the ex- 
 ample of his illustrious forefathers, the zealous pro- 
 moters of a righteous peace.^^* The same messenger 
 carried the tidings that Guido, the Cardinal Bishop of 
 
 * Primus inter actores turbationis hujusmodi . . . nam cum tui 
 progenitores sicut de ipsis liabet fama laudabilis pacis zelatores 
 extiterunt .... immo dampnabiliter degenerare videris 
 ab illis. Urbani. IV. Epp.iii. 188, 199, according to the copies in 
 M.S. Add. Mus. Brit. 15,361. Also Raynaldi a. iii. § 83, 84. 
 
138 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 Sabina, one of tlie most redoubtable representatives of 
 Papal policy-, was about to arrive as Legate. The ver- 
 dict of Amiens was officially confirmed at Rome in the 
 middle of March, almost immediately it was known.* 
 It is easy to see how all the circumstances dove-tailed 
 together, and France and the Court of Rome, as allies 
 of the English crown, believed that they could cope > 
 with the constitutional pretensions of the estates, which 
 threatened to be inconvenient to all three. 
 
 King Henry did not venture to land in England 
 until the 15th of February, when he knew that the 
 Cardinal-Legate was on his way, and after he had re- 
 ceived considerable pecuniary assistance from Louis. 
 He learnt with great uneasiness that though some of 
 his adversaries had laid down their arms, terrified by 
 the rigour of the sentence, others now first felt them- 
 selves bound to. maintain the Provisions of Oxford, 
 because all earlier franchises, especially the Magna 
 Charta, were confirmed by the Misa of Amiens, and 
 the Provisions were simply the natural outgrowth of 
 these. 
 
 The Earl of Leicester said, and his words circulated 
 far and wide, that he and his four sons would stand firm, 
 although he had never found in strange lands, among 
 Christians or heathen, such faithlessness and treachery 
 as here in England. f On the Welsh border, where 
 
 * The Acts of the Curia iu this affair collected in my Geschichte 
 von England, iii^. 758, 759. 
 
 f The Chronicle ascribed by Halliwell to Rishanger, p. 17, 18. 
 
CTVIL WAR AND PROTECTORATE. ^ 13<) 
 
 the Montforts now openly allied themselves with Prince 
 Llewellyn^ disorders had broken out_, so that, as early 
 as the 4th of February, the royal sheriflPs in Worcester, 
 Stafford, and Shropshire were ordered to destroy all 
 bridges over the Severn, with the single exception of 
 that at Gloucester.* When the King returned from 
 France, the Earl of Leicester, his family and retainers, 
 had already taken up arms and secured the most import- 
 ant passages across the river. Early in March Prince 
 Edward hurried to oppose them, and fought valiantly 
 for the possession of Gloucester; on the 13th he with- 
 drew in order to effect a junction with his father at 
 Oxford. 
 
 The choice of this city, where Henry summoned the 
 baronage of the realm to meet in Parliament, and 
 which also offered a convenient pivot for his military 
 operations in the civil war, was peculiarly significant 
 in contrast to the events which had taken place there 
 six years earlier. But one serious dij05culty re- 
 quired first to be removed, the temper of the uni- 
 versity, by which the Barons had doubtless profited at 
 that time. The new spirit had been planted by the 
 energy of the friars, Franciscans and Dominicans. 
 It was devoted to practical social reform, and imbued 
 with their doctrine of a stern religious need for change 
 of nature. The thoughts freely interchanged among 
 such men as Grosseteste, Marsh, and Montfort, rising 
 to the highest questions in Church and State, struck 
 deep root. Just at the middle of the century the 
 - Shirley, ii. 254. 
 
140 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 place attained for the first time the dignity of a 
 national school. Students, eager for knowledge, from 
 the opulent classes in all parts of the kingdom^ 
 crowded thither to be trained in the sober but popular 
 scholasticism of the Minorites.* The projects and 
 ideas which had inspired their fathers found a still 
 more vehement acceptance among the younger genera- 
 tion. The wandering scholars, infected by the uni- 
 versal spirit of violence, were engaged in a furious 
 fight with the citizens at the time when Prince Edward 
 marched past on his way to Gloucester.f Probably 
 this was the immediate reason of a stringent order 
 issued by the King to the Chancellor and University 
 on the 12th of March, as soon as he arrived at Wood- 
 stock. He desired to meet the estates at Oxford upon 
 most solemn business of State, but among them would 
 be many unruly fighting men, probably the Barons 
 expected from the Scotch border, and therefore the 
 scholars were commanded to leave the town and repair 
 for a while to their homes, all their rights being as- 
 sured to them.J The true reason, the fear of the 
 
 * See in general my Tiibingen Programme of 1864, p. 21, and 
 an excellent passage in J. E. Green's ' Short History of the 
 EngUsh People,' 144. 
 
 \ A. Wood, Hist, et Antiq. Oxon., p. 111. 
 
 I Nos attendentes quod sine gravissimo periculo ibidem morari 
 non possetis, maxime cum in tanta congregacione multi iadomiti, 
 quorum serviciam de facih reprimere non possemus ibidem fuerint 
 accessuri, vobis mandamus finniter injimgentes, quatinus ad 
 pacem et^ tranquillitatem vestram salvandam a dicta villa ad 
 propria sine dilacione divertatis. E,ymer, i. 435. 
 
CIVIL WAR AND PROTECTORATE. 141 
 
 great number of able-bodied students and their re- 
 l:]|ellious temper, was suppressed. A contemporary 
 reckoned their number at 15,000.* The error of 
 driving away such multitudes into the arms of the 
 enemies of the crown, could not fail to work its own 
 punishment. 
 
 At Oxford and at Brackley, a few miles to the 
 north-east, where the Earl of Leicester was encamped 
 with his followers, brief but active negotiations seem 
 to have been carried on once more, through the 
 mediation of the clergy and a French ambassador. 
 According to one positive statement, the nobility 
 promised to acquiesce in the Amiens sentence if the 
 King would give up the article in favour of aliens. 
 The terms were even drawn up, stipulating that, 
 among all his countrymen, none should be permitted 
 to return except Boniface, the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury.t But the King^s evil counsellors induced him 
 to withdraw this concession, and on the 20th of March, 
 the last day on which he issued safe conducts to the 
 opposite party, he summoned the long prepared troops 
 
 * Erat enim clericorum numerus, quonun nomina scripta 
 fuerunt in matriculis rectorum, excedens XVM. Rishanger, ed. 
 HalliweU, p. 22. 
 
 f Copy of a record by the town clerk of London in MS. Mus. 
 Brit. Add. 5444, fol. 66^. : quod saltern unicuni et solum remittat 
 articulum, viz., quod ahenigenis ab Anglia remotis per indigenas 
 gubernetur, et omnibus statutis provisionibus et ordinationibus 
 regis Franciae aquiescat. Also the agreement concerning the 
 Archbishop in prsesentia illustris regis Angliae, de consiho proce- 
 rum et magnatum ejusdem regni. Eymer, i. 438. 
 
142 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 to appear under arms on the 30tli, because a serious 
 contest threatened danger to crown and kingdom.* 
 A few days later the army marched from Oxford to 
 Northampton^ where Simon's men had withdrawn be- 
 hind the walls. On the 5th of April, Edward ordered an 
 assault and succeeded in entering the town through 
 the treachery of the French Prior of St. Andrew's 
 monastery, the Barons and the band of students, who 
 fought under their own banner,t making an heroic but 
 fruitless resistance. The young Simon de Montfort 
 was taken prisoner, with fifteen bannerets and forty 
 knights, whilst his father escaped with the rest from 
 the pursuit of the royal army, turning first towards 
 the east and afterwards towards the south. 
 
 But this disaster was more than counter-balanced 
 elsewhere. In the city of London every measure 
 \ tending towards submission was rejected, the party 
 I of progress, the Bacheleria,X had unquestionably 
 i the upper hand, and the numerous inhabitants took 
 1 up arms under their own constable and marshal. 
 ' Here Hugh Despenser still ruled as Great Justiciary, 
 1 doubtless in concert with the Earl of Leicester. On 
 
 * Four documents, Rymer, i. 436, 437 ; March 13, 18, 20. In 
 the last are the words : Cum jam in regno nostro gravissima 
 turbacio sit suborta, ex qua periculum regni et corone Anglie, quod 
 absit, de facili possit imminere. 
 
 f Walter de Hemingburgh, i. 311 (ed. Engl. Hist. Soc.) 
 habebant enim vexillum per se et in sublime contra regem 
 erectum. 
 
 I Innumera multitude ribaldorum quos bachilarios vocitabant. 
 Thos. Wykes, 138. 
 
CIVIL WAR AND PROTECTORATE. 143 
 
 the 31st of March, the great bell of St. Paul's rang 
 an alarum, and the populace poured out to devas- 
 tate King Richard's magnificent parks at Isleworth, 
 and the neighbouring estates of William of Valence, 
 Walter of Merton, and Philip Basset. Within the 
 city they fell upon the Jews, and searched for their 
 stores of money deposited in the Temple. A noble- 
 man who had slain the wealthy Kok Abrahamson 
 offered half the plunder to the Earl of Leicester. The 
 people also laid hands upon the officers of the royal 
 courts at Westminster.* The insurrection and the 
 acts of devastating violence went on under Simon's 
 eyes, for by Palm Sunday (the 12th of April), he had 
 advanced as far as St. Albans, summoned* thither by 
 the preparations which the enemy were already making 
 to cut him off from the coast. 
 
 From Oxford a detachment had marched upon 
 Rochester, led by the Earl of Warenne, who had 
 recently become once more an ardent royalist. On 
 the 1 9th Simon stormed and took the town, but the 
 old castle, built by Bishop Gundulf, the Conqueror's 
 great architect, resisted all his siege appliances. 
 The Easter season closed; then tidings arrived that 
 Prince Edward, who had hitherto occupied strong 
 quarters in Leicester and Nottingham, the domains of 
 Montfort and Derby, was now i/C.tipletely in accord 
 with the Barons of the Scotch border, and was leading 
 forward the King's main army by forced marches. 
 The Londoners urged the Earl of Leicester to return 
 for the defence of their city on the 26th. Rochester 
 Thos. Wykes, 140-148. Lib. de Antiq. Leg. 01, 02. 
 
144 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 must therefore be given up, and under these circum- 
 stances the King thought to make himself master of 
 the Cinque Ports, Sandwich, Dover, Winchelsea, 
 Romney, and Hythe. But the inhabitants, endowed 
 from time immemorial with certain baronial rights for 
 coast defence and navigation, proved no less defiant 
 than the Londoners. They manned their ships and 
 put to sea, that they might not be employed in a 
 voyage up the Thames against the capital. The 
 people of Kent and Surrey showed themselves alto- 
 gether unfriendly; provisions were soon unattainable, 
 so that horse and man must starve. 
 
 At length the King led his army into Sussex, and 
 on Sunday, the 11th of May, he fixed his head-quarters 
 at the Priory of Lewes, a noble position where the 
 Ouse broadens into an arm of the sea. As an off- 
 shoot of Cluny, the community was well inclined^ to- 
 wards foreign connections, and as a Benedictine 
 foundation, thoroughly royalist in sympathy. 
 
 All attempts upon London had meanwhile been 
 suspended. The riches of the capital even then promised 
 success to the cause it espoused, and for many years 
 the system of arbitrary amercements by the crown, 
 the innumerable discourtesies of the court and its fol- 
 lowers towards the citizens, and the complete in- 
 difference of the government to the interests of the 
 flourishing transmarine commerce, had fostered resent- 
 ment and ill-will. For these and other reasons the 
 citizens regarded the cause of the Barons as their own, 
 and looked upon the Earl of Leicester as the states- 
 
CIVIL WAR AND PROTECTORATE. 145 
 
 man and popular hero who would unite the military 
 and commercial classes, and lead them to victory. 
 
 After agreeing with the nobles and citizens to offer 
 peace once more upon condition that the Statutes of 
 Oxford were accepted, Leicester, on the 6th of May, 
 marched southward at the head of his troops, to whom 
 a strong band of some 15,000 Londoners had now 
 joined themselves.* On the 12th of May, th^y encamped 
 upon a woody ridge a few miles above Lewes, near the 
 village of Fletching. A brief and courteous letter to 
 the King, under the seal of the Earls of Leicester and 
 Gloucester, besought him to give up certain counsellors, 
 his enemies and theirs. It was conveyed by the Bishops 
 of London and Worcester to the monastery, where they 
 also discharged their special oral commission. But 
 Edward was eager for war, and, in this case. King 
 Richard also. They would listen to no terms, although 
 £30,000, even 50,000 marks to the King of the Romans 
 personally, are said to have been offered as compensa- 
 tion for the devastation and destruction of property.f 
 They persuaded the King to declare that Simon de 
 Montfort and Gilbert de Clare were his enemies — with- 
 
 * Rishanger, ed. Halliwell, p. 27. Lib. de Antiq. Leg. 62. 
 \ This is the subject of the ballad, or rather satire, which has 
 been so often printed, the oldest in the EngUsh language : 
 The Kyng of Alemaigne, bi mi leaute 
 Thritti thousend pound asked e he 
 For to make the pees in the countree. 
 Percy, Reliques of Ancient English Poetiy, ed. 1840, p. 90. 
 Wright, Pohtical Songs, p. 69. 
 
 L 
 
U6 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 out even deigning to give them the title of Earl — 
 because they and their confederates had brought war 
 and rebellion into the land, and henceforth he cared 
 nothing for their safety and friendship. In a separate 
 written declaration, Richard and Edward, the lords, 
 and knights, on their side, took upon themselves the 
 responsibility of advising the King, and offered to prove 
 their own loyalty, and the treachery of the opposite 
 party before the royal court of justice.^ After this full 
 renunciation of obedience and esteem, the two armies 
 made ready on the 13th for battle. 
 
 The bloodless strife of words was at an end, and there 
 remained no appeal but to the sword. Among the 
 patriots all were inspired by one sentiment, one faith, 
 one will, and by love to God and their fellow-menf 
 which robbed death for their country of all terror. 
 Every one relied with implicit confidence upon Simon^s 
 energy, and the military genius J of which he had once 
 
 * These three letters are not found in the rolls of chancery, the 
 keeping of which was much disturbed by the war, but they are 
 preserved in most of the annals of the timei First printed from 
 the continuations of Matthew Paris. Rymer, i. 440. See Gesch. 
 von England, iii. 766, 768 — notes. 
 
 f Per omnia una fides, una voluntas fuit, amor et Dei et proxi- 
 mi. Bishanger, ed. HalHwell, p. 34. 
 
 X Tum propter ejus constantiam, tum propter belli notitiam. 
 Tantus erat ei ardor finem malis imponere, ut mallet ultima ex- 
 periri, quam regni calamitatem ulterius protendi. Opus chroni- 
 corum, ed. Riley (Rerr. Brit. med. sevi S.S. 1866), p. 10, a newly 
 published record, also written at St. Albans, which was used in 
 both versions of the continuation of Matth. Paris going under 
 Rishanger's name. s 
 
CIVIL WAR AND PROTECTORATE. 147 
 
 given glorious proof in Gascony. First of all he com- 
 mended tlie event to Heaven, spending the night in 
 prayer, as was his father^s habit, and as his unforgotten 
 friends and spiritual counsellors would have enjoined. 
 The good Bishop Walter of Worcester, steadfast and 
 like-minded, went from tent to tent along the ranks 
 receiving confessions, pronouncing absolution, and dis- 
 pensing the sacrament. The white cross worn by each j 
 man on breast and shoulder was the symbol of a holy \ 
 conflict. The enterprises against unbelievers in distant 
 lands, in which the general had once taken part, were 
 not yet discontinued. Like their fathers in 1215, the 1 
 English gathered together as an " army of the Lord '^ ' 
 against the same oppressors. 
 
 With the first grey of morning, on Wednesday, the 
 14th of May, the Earl rose and drew up his host on the 
 edge of the woody height overlooking the castle, town, 
 and priory of Lewes, and the noble river. In the 
 centre stood a chariot once used by Simon on account 
 of the bone fracture, from which he had still scarcely 
 recovered. According to the usage of the time it now 
 carried the great standard, and chained within it were 
 those four London burgesses who, in the previous 
 November, had designed to deliver up Simon to the 
 King at Southwark. All around, under a strong guard, 
 was a rampart formed of various kinds of carriages, and 
 the hosts destined for the onslaught stood closely 
 massed on the two wings. Just as the sun 
 rose out of the ocean, Simon bent his knee and 
 offered the last prayer, the whole army following his 
 
 l2 
 
148 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 example. The Earl dubbed Gilbert of Gloucester 
 knight, with two other youths, Robert de Yere, Earl of 
 Oxford, and John de Burgh ; then with faces turned 
 eastward, they marched in steadfast order out of the 
 wood and down the valley towards Lewes. "^ 
 
 The royalists who had spent the night merrily, after 
 the fashion of cavaliers, in wine and song, and even, in 
 spite of their clerical quarters, in the arms of women,t 
 were taken wholly by surprise when the announcement 
 of their sentinels called them from their beds to battle. 
 The attack was received almost under the walls of the 
 town by a foraging party who had put to horse early in 
 the morning. But arms and armour were rapidly 
 donned, and the men ranged themselves in rank and 
 file under the escutcheons of their leaders. As soon as 
 the ancient standard of the Kings of England, the 
 British dragon, fluttered high in the air, the army, full 
 of chivalrous courage, advanced to the assault in three 
 
 * The principal authority is the description of the batde, 
 doubtless derived from an eye-witness, in Rishanger, ed. Halli- 
 well, p. 31 ^^ seq.', also information from the manuscript chronicle 
 of Rochester, ibid. p. 130, and Rishanger, ed. Riley, p. 25-26. 
 
 t Generally Thos. Wykes, p. 150. At illi stupefacti perpro- 
 
 pere surgentes . . . exeuntes in occursum multitudinis tarn pro- 
 
 fanse. According to the popular description of the time, Political 
 
 Songs, p. 80 : 
 
 Qui carnis luxuria fceda sorduerunt, 
 
 Factis lupanaribus robur minuerunt, 
 
 Unde militaribus indigni fuerunt. 
 Likewise Chronicon de Mailros, ed. Stevenson, p. 193, noctem 
 illam coreis et cantilenis occupans, potacionibus et scortacionibus 
 iiisistebat ; adding, protestante mihi uno nobili qui ibi fuerat. 
 
CIVIL WAR AND PROTEGIORATE. 149 
 
 divisions^ commanded severally by Prince Edward, tlie 
 King of the Romans, and Henry himself. The Earl of 
 Leicester had barely time to take up another position 
 which his keen eye saw to be necessary from the nature 
 of the ground. Three valiant young noblemen, 
 Hastings, Segrave, and Borham, were commissioned to 
 lead the scarcely disciplined London bands, and force 
 the way from the north straight to the castle walls ; the 
 second division was commanded by Gilbert of Glou- 
 cester, and the third, at his right, by the two young 
 Montfort's, Henry and Guy. Their father remained in 
 the rear guard and directed the whole. 
 
 Full of wild impetuosity and bitter anger, Edward 
 dashed forward to attack the citizens who had insulted 
 his mother, chased them into the water on the right 
 and up the hill to the left, and himself reached the spot 
 where the standard was raised, slaying the guard, 
 together with the four unfortunate prisoners. He kept 
 up the pursuit and slaughter for hours, and believed 
 that he had already defeated the flower of the enemy's 
 army and their commander himself, whilst, in fact, 
 Leicester, without paying great heed to the citizens, 
 was causing his better equipped divisions to advance 
 against the two kings. After a long resistance their 
 ranks were completely broken. Those who were not 
 slain in the fight sought to save their lives as best they 
 might, some in the sanctuary of the Priory, others 
 by surrendering on the battle-field to the victors* 
 Warenne, Valence, Guy of Lusignan, Hugh Bigod, and 
 three hundred horsemen, fought their way through to 
 
150 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 Pevensey, and then set sail for the French coast. 
 King Henry, whose horse had been killed under him, 
 delivered up his sword to the Earl of Gloucester ; even 
 his brother Richard, after seeking refuge in a mill 
 which had served as a post of observation and support 
 during the fight, descended as a prisoner amid scorn 
 and derision. * Many nobles were obliged to surrender, 
 as the Earls of Hereford and Arundel, Philip Basset, 
 Henry Percy, and the Barons of the Scotch lowlands, 
 Bruce, Baliol, and Comyn. Onlj two noblemen of rank 
 were slain on each side, and altogether about 5000 
 servants and soldiers. It was evening when the Prince 
 and his cousin Henry returned, weary and unsuspecting, 
 after they had, in the intoxication of victory, pursued 
 the scattered citizens far into the country. In his first 
 consternation on learning the events of the day, Edward 
 proposed to throw himself into the castle, where the 
 garrison still held out. They capitulated on the follow^ 
 ing day, and the Prince then resolved to share the fate 
 of his house, and surrendered to the conqueror.f 
 
 * Motus est exercitus baronum versus quoddam molendinum' 
 circa Lewes. MS. Mus. Brit. Add. 5444, fol. 68". For full 
 details, Chron. de Mailros, 19G, and the English baUad : 
 The Kyng of Alemaigne wende do ful wel, 
 He saisede the mulne for a castel, 
 With hare sharpe swerdes he grounde the stel, 
 He wende that the sailes were mangonel 
 To helpe Wyndesore. 
 t The sources of infonnation upon the battle of Lewes, to a 
 great extent supplementing and corroborating one another are, 
 in order of importance : Thos. Wykes, 149,-152 ; the two records 
 
CIVIL WAR AND PROTECTORATE. 151 
 
 England liad never yet seen sucli a conflict between 
 the King- and his subjects, between the nearest kindred, 
 and people of one tongue and and one faith. A sacred 
 although joyous thankfulness spread far and wide 
 through the land, for the people, believing that ono 
 decisive event had freed them from insupportable op- 
 pression, hoped to reap a happy harvest from the seed 
 of native blood. With a smaller force Simon had de- 
 feated the better equipped army of the enemy, and his 
 enthusiastic national adherents celebrated his praise in 
 almost Puritan spirit as a Moses who had rescued the 
 people of Israel from Egyptian tribulation, as a Gideon 
 or Matathias. Next to God they gave glory to him and 
 hii valiant sons ; he was called the corner stone of 
 English freedom.* 
 
 The ordeal of battle had decided against the King, 
 who had persisted in governing by his own absolute 
 authority, or in dependence upon unconstitutional 
 favourites. t Now, he and his family and adherents 
 
 attributed to Bislianger; the Aim. Waverleienses, p. 850, 357, of the 
 new edition; the Chronicon de Mailros, 392 et seq. ed. Stevenson, 
 derived from the report of a Scot who was present. The greatest 
 number of topographical and genealogical details are given b}' 
 Blaauw in a work which is extremely serviceable, in spite of 
 critical deficiencies, The Barons' War, including the Battles of 
 Lewes and Evesham, 1844, p. 143-189. 
 
 * Fides et fideUtas Symonis soHus 
 Fit pacis integritas Anglise totius. 
 Wright, Political Songs, p. 85, the longest and most significant of 
 these songs, composed in the same year. 
 
 t The following official note to a decree, having reference tp the 
 
152 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 were in the power of men to whom,, after a series of 
 fruitless experiment s_, no other resource remained than 
 to use force in dealing with him. The idea of abolish- 
 ing royalty in this State, once founded by the strong 
 hand of a King, did not occur to them. But when the 
 Sovereign accepted, under compulsion, a constitution 
 drawn up by his vassals, did he retain more than a 
 shadow of that dignity which had once bound together 
 State and people in one whole ? Could this new con- 
 stitutional and parliamentary regime be attained by no 
 other means than by harshness and injury to the one, 
 under whose oppression the many had so long groaned ? 
 Montfort had scarcely put an end to the excesses 
 which followed the victory, when the more arduous 
 work of the statesman and ruler commenced. His 
 first steps were altogether sagacious and well-con- 
 sidered. Several Franciscans and monks of the priory 
 went busily to and fro between friends and enemies, 
 in order to prevent further blood-shedding. The King^s 
 first proclamation commanded the garrison to lay down 
 their arms, because peace was concluded between him 
 and the Barons,* and a preliminary compromise, the 
 Misa of Lewes, was meanwhile negotiated. The docu- 
 
 French subsidies, and dated from Lewes on the 14th of May, the 
 day of th^ battle, is a convincing proof that all regular govern- 
 ment was at an end : Et sciendum quod magister Arnulphus, 
 cancellarius regis Alemannise, dictavit et scripsit manibus pro- 
 priis litteram supradictam, sine consilio et assensu alicujus clerici 
 de cancellaria ; et consignata fuit coram consilio Domini Regis 
 apud Lewes die supradicto. Rymer, i. 440. 
 
 * Rot. Lit. Pat. 48 Henr. III. membr. 13 : quia pax inter 
 reo-em et barones forma ta est. 
 
CIVIL WAR AND PROTECTORATE. 153 
 
 ment, in seven articles, was afterwards suppressed, 
 like many more of. that unquiet time ; but statements 
 of its contents are not entirely wanting. It breathed 
 a spirit of moderation, not holding the King account- 
 able, but aiming to make him compliant, and even 
 submissive. It showed that a desire still existed for 
 a higher court of arbitration, to be composed, since 
 King Louis's efforts had proved abortive, of French 
 and English bishops and peers, with the addition oi 
 the new Papal Legate. The Provisions of Oxford 
 f were regarded as the public law of the land ; they 
 might indeed be altered, but only after general dis- 
 cussion.^ On the other hand, the exclusion of 
 foreigners from domestic offices and the King's 
 council, and strict frugality in the finances *of the 
 royal household, were demands from which no abate- 
 ment could be made, '^l^he terms included a mutual 
 amnest}^ and exchange of prisoners ; those of North- 
 ampton in return for those of Lewes ; ransoms were 
 forbidden as inadmissible in a war between fellow- 
 countrymen. Until the terms were fulfilled, the Princes 
 Edward and Henry were to be retained as hostages, 
 as well as the castle of Dover, which was committed 
 to Henry de Montfort. King Richard and his younger 
 son Edmund were forbidden to leave Richard's estate 
 of Wallingford. 
 
 In London, the King's residences of the Tower and 
 
 -'= Ita lit cum deliberatione tractaretur, quae provisioijum et 
 istatutorum essent pro utilitate regni tenenda et quae delenda. 
 Rishanger, ed. Riley, p. 28. AlsoHalliwell, p. 37 ; Wykes, 152 ; 
 Lib. de Antiq. Leg. 63. Cf. Stiibbs' Const. Hist. ii. 90. 
 
154 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 Westminster were found unfit for his reception ; he, 
 therefore, took up his abode with the Bishop on the 
 28th. On the road to the capital, new measures were 
 resolved upon for calming the excited people, who, in 
 many places, were suffering bitter want. The occu- 
 pants of castles on both sides must discontinue their 
 hostilities; every man must lay down his arms, and 
 release his prisoners ; further breaches of the peace 
 were threatened with death, offences against eccle- 
 siastical property and the life and goods of the Jews 
 receiving special mention. As the appointment of 
 sheriffs had repeatedly been the principal occasion of 
 renewed strife, it was a happy expedient to nominate 
 provisional guardians of the peace (custodes pacis) in 
 twenty-nine counties.* The Chancellor and scholars 
 of Oxford were not forgotten ; on the 30th of May 
 they were invited to return to the university town.f 
 
 By far the most important measure, was the pro- 
 clamation of a parliament at London for the 23rd of 
 June, to include, not only Prelates and Barons, but 
 also other liege subjects ; four prudent and competent 
 Knights from each shire were expressly invited to 
 attend. J The highest ranks here co-operated with 
 representatives of the Commons, so far as they pre- 
 
 * The proclamations of the 17th, 25th, and 28th of May, of the 
 2ncl, 4th, and 11th of June. Rymer, i. 441-443. Compare Eish- 
 anger, ed. Riley, 29. 
 
 f Rot. Lit. Pat. 48 Henr. III. membr. 12. Compare A. Wood, 
 Hist, et Antiq. Oxon, p. 113. 
 
 I Quatuor de legalioribns et discretioribus mihtibus dicti 
 comitatus per assensum ejusdem comitatus ad hoc electos. 
 
CIVIL WAR AND PROTECXaRATE. 155 
 
 sented themselves, and an attempt at least was made 
 to carry out the new scheme of government proposed 
 at Lewes. To promote the peace of the kingdom, 
 three persons were to be elected, with the King's 
 approbation, upon taking a solemn oath. They, in 
 turn, were to choose nine others, laymen and church- 
 men, who should conduct the business of government 
 at the seat of the court, either altogether or in alternate 
 groups of three. The King was to act by their advice 
 in making appointments, and in all other matters. If 
 they should disagree, or individuals among them appear 
 ill-qualified, the decision lay with the first three; 
 these could not lawfully be changed without consent of 
 parliament. The members of the council must be 
 Englishmen, like all sheriffs and custodians of castles ; 
 for the rest, foreigners were permitted to pass freely 
 in and out of the kingdom, especially for purposes of 
 trade. All charters of liberty which had been granted 
 to the English people were of course brought to mind, 
 and assurances were given on behalf of the King, his 
 son, and their partisans, that they would cherish no 
 resentment on account of recent events. In accordance 
 with Magna Charta, the Church was left to regulate 
 its own affairs; but Archbishop Boniface made no 
 response to the invitation to return, and this might 
 be regarded as a first indication of mischief.* 
 
 Rymer, i. 442, June 4th. Stubbs, Select Charters, 411. The 
 Report on the Dignity of a Peer is hypercritical in doubting then* 
 presence, because it is not mentioned in the documents, i. 154. 
 
 * Rymer, i. 443, 444. Stubbs, Select Charters, 413, 414. Const. 
 'Hist. ii. 90, 91. 
 
166 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 On the same 23rd of June^ tlie Bishop of Chichester, 
 Stephen Berksted/'Earl Simon, and Gilbert of Glou- 
 cester, received authority from the King to elect the 
 council of nine. The regent of the realm, the soul of 
 the entire movement, the Protector, as his contempo- 
 raries already styled him, was necessarily included in 
 this commission. In contrast to the baronial govern- 
 ment, in which he had formerly taken part, his political 
 sagacity now taught him to exclude large numbers 
 from the chosen committee; partly for the sake of 
 concord, chiefly in order to preserve his own personal 
 power. Whilst he occupied the apex of the pyramid, 
 the assembly of the Knights might serve as a broad 
 and steadfast base. 
 
 The position to which a sense of duty and solicitude 
 for the public weal, no less than actual lust of power, 
 caused him to aspire, was altogether exceptional and 
 outside the law. He reserved to himself, for his per- 
 sonal security, the right of bearing arms, though it 
 was denied to all others.* For and against him and 
 his work, keen and vehement opinions were formed by 
 the two parties ; opinions that could not be silenced, 
 and found striking expression in words. 
 
 His opponents attributed to him the most selfish 
 designs for his own aggrandisement, and that of his 
 sons, whom he loved tenderly; they asserted that 
 he had already assumed the wardship of King Richard's 
 extensive English domains, and eighteen baronies be- 
 
 '■* E,ymer, i. 445, July 16 : Prsesertim cum ex hoc nuUi de 
 regno dampnum debeat vel periculum imminere. 
 
CIVIL WAR AND PROTECTORATE. 157 
 
 longing to royalist peers ; that he dragged his King 
 about with him through the country like a prisoner ; 
 that he, an Earl, regarded himself as co-regent, and 
 the equal of kingly majesty.* But the men who ac- 
 cused him of considering his own and his descendants* 
 advantage alone, entirely overlooked his untiring and 
 zealous devotion to public affairs since 1258, and shut 
 their eyes to the disastrous abuses in which the country 
 had been plunged more and more deeply by the 
 former legitimate and absolute government. No 
 one had struggled against them with greater energy 
 than he, who was now reproached as a traitor and 
 usurper.f 
 
 These contradictory opinions are set forth with re- 
 markable dialectical acuteness in a contemporary poem, 
 whose author was unquestionably clerical, probably a 
 Franciscan friar, deeply religious, and at the same time 
 patriotic and loyal. By a course of temperate reason- 
 ing, political and constitutional in its character, he 
 shows free compromise to be the only way of escape 
 from the strife. He celebrates the Earl of Leicester 
 as wholly disinterested and self-sacrificing, as the 
 
 * Supra modum glorians in virtute sua sibi et filiis suis, quos 
 tenerrime diligebat . . . regem suum regere non erubuit, 
 a quo regi rectissime tenebatur. Thos. Wykes, 153. He wrote 
 later, but in the same popular language which is peculiar to the 
 age of the baronial war. 
 
 f Seductorem nominant S. atque fallacem ; 
 Facta sed examinant probantque veracem. 
 
158 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 saviour and deliverer of the realm.* According to the 
 popular belief, Simon, sincerely devoted to the precepts 
 
 r of the Catholic faith, and as a scholar conversant with 
 
 '• the canon law, adhered with immovable constancy to 
 the oath which he had sworn to reform the kingdom 
 by means of the Statutes of Oxford. Whilst so many 
 had grown faithless, no persecution had induced him 
 
 I to waver ; not even Prince Edward's menace of rope 
 and gallows. At length, the ordeal of Lewes had 
 
 , determined the fate of the two Kings and their heirs, 
 who had once perjured themselves by rejecting a 
 righteous compact, and now, in deep humiliation, 
 reaped the fruit of their transgressions against divine 
 and human law. All English people owed thanks to 
 Almighty God for the victory without which their very 
 existence would have been annihilated.f 
 
 The poet avoids describing the King's character, 
 but he entertains a warm admiration for the valour of 
 his son, whom he compares to a lion ; yet changeful as 
 the motley leopard's skin upon the escutcheon of the 
 
 *Tlie poem, which has already been used, pubHshed very 
 indifferently by Wright, PoHtical Songs, p. 72 et seq. 
 
 Qui se Christo simiUs dat pro multis morti . . . 
 Nee fraus nee fallacia Comitem promovit, 
 Sed divina gratia, quae quos juvet novit. 
 
 I Hsec Angli de prseho legite Lewensi, 
 Cujus patrocinio vivitis defensi ; 
 Quia si victoria jam victis cessisset, 
 Anglorum memoria victa viluisset. 
 
 Page 89. 
 
 Page 92. 
 
CIVIL WAR AND PROTECTORATE. 159 
 
 Plantagenets is young Edward^s faith ; for in his need, 
 he made large promises, and broke them instantly 
 when he was free. How can he ever be a King, with- 
 out reverence for law? The doctrine that law and> 
 right are superior to the crown,* with all its splendour 
 and all its absolute power, what may be called the 
 Teutonic conception of royalty, as opposed to Roman 
 imperialism, had penetrated to the very marrow of this 
 insular race. Upon this pivot all the other arguments 
 of the singular poem revolve. As the root of the 
 strife,t it indicated the monarches determination to act 
 according to his own pleasure, and, regarding the realm 
 as his own domain, to dispose of Chancellor, Treasurer, 
 Justiciary, and governors of castles and shires without 
 taking counsel with the Barons. From the idea of 
 art absolute self-dependeut dignity, believing itself 
 superior to law, it followed as a necessary consequence 
 that nobles, knights, and freemen, who sought to 
 acquire by peaceful means a control over, and a share 
 in, the government of the State, must appear in the 
 light of rebels. 
 
 The court is described in contrast, its corruption by 
 flatterers, knavish impostors, and the avarice of aliens, 
 with the ruin of the country arising thence. To 
 reform all this was the object of the Barons, and it is 
 
 * Nam quid lege rectius qua cuncta reguntur, 
 Et quid jure verius quo res discerauutur ? 
 
 Page 94. 
 f En radicem tangimus perturbationis 
 Regni, de quo scribimus. 
 
 Page 96. 
 
160 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 proudly asked how it could have been so much as 
 attempted without them.* Misled by others, or har- 
 bouring evil intentions himself, the King might rank 
 his authority above the law, but then the Barons were 
 legally and morally bound to remove the evil by a 
 reform involving no harmful consequences. f The 
 objection that the King, the image of the majesty of 
 God, would thus be robbed of his freedom, is met by a 
 reference to human sinfulness, and by the brief and 
 clearly conceived formula that every restraint is not 
 injurious to liberty, but, on the contrary, the sovereign 
 would add splendour and amplitude to his royal dignity 
 when guarded from evil influences and able only to do 
 good. J It behoved the King to remember that he also 
 is a servant of God, for he can only claim obedience 
 and love from his subjects when he himself practises 
 them. It follows, indeed, as an inexorable con- 
 
 * Non sine baronibns tunc relormaretur. 
 
 Page 99. 
 f Cur meUoratio non admitteretur, 
 
 Cui vitiatio nulla commiscetur ? 
 
 Page 102. 
 I Non omnis arctatio privat libertatem, 
 
 Nee omnis districtio toUit potestatem. 
 
 Ad quid vult libera lex reges arctari ? 
 
 Ne possint adultera lege maculari, 
 
 Et hsec coarctatio non est servitutis, 
 
 Sed est ampliatio regise virtutis. 
 
 Ergo regi libeat omne quod est bonum, 
 
 Sed malum non audeat ; hoc est Dei donum. 
 
 Pages 105, IdO. 
 
CIVIL WAR AND PROTECTORATE. 161 
 
 sequence, that when he errs and persists in error his 
 subjects may call him to account.* Every sovereign 
 who really possesses truths wisdom, knowledge, and 
 grace from God, and does not merely assume that 
 he excels all other men therein, will without difficulty 
 convince his people of his virtues. On the other hand, 
 human weakness and all the toils of government can 
 find no better support than trustful co-operation with 
 the commons of the realm, with free fellow-countrymen, 
 to whom the principles of those universal rights 
 inherited from their forefathers are better known than 
 to men who are foreign to the kingdom.f The poet 
 has confidence that this constitutionalism would not 
 degenerate, for then freedom would be turning against 
 itself. He recalls the mighty events which had 
 recently disproved the maxim : " The King's will is 
 law,^'J and points out that a prince must not live for 
 
 * Si priiiceps erraverit, debet revocari 
 Ab hiis quos gravaverit injuste negari. 
 Nisi veht corrigi. 
 
 Page 109. 
 f Igitur communitas regni consulatur, 
 Et quid universitas sentiat, sciatur, 
 Cui leges proprise maxime sunt notae. 
 Nee cuncti provincise sic sunt idiotse, 
 Quin sciant plus cseteris regni sui mores, 
 Quos rehnquunt posteris hii qui sunt priores. 
 
 Page 111. 
 \ Dicitur vulgariter : " ut rex vult, lex vadit ; " 
 Veritas vult aUter, nam lex stat, rex cadit. 
 
 Page 116. 
 M 
 
1(52 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 himself but for Ms sublime task and the honour of his 
 realm. He concludes with a reference to the example 
 of our Lord and his disciples^ and with the injunction : 
 a King should above all make known his resolutions 
 to those from whom^ according to usage, he solicits 
 help.* 
 
 The whole course of argument indicates a marvellous 
 ripeness of political intelligence which may have lain 
 dormant in the germ of the English communal system, 
 but was first called into life when Simon came forward. 
 His mind had been impregnated by popular influences, 
 and fertilised the nation in return. At that age the 
 idea of a combination between constitutional monarchy 
 and parliamentary government, both overarched by 
 the sacredness of law, had scarcely been so clearly 
 and distinctly enunciated elsewhere. The nation had 
 already resolved to realise the conception, but it soon 
 became evident that many conditions indispensable to 
 this form of government were either entirely lacking 
 or very imperfectly developed. Though it is in its 
 nature to attain rapid maturity and clearness as an 
 idea, and to find easy expression in words, its realisa- 
 tion is essentially difiicult, and can only be accom- 
 plished at the price of a perfection of self-control to 
 which men are seldom equal. 
 
 * Cur sua consilia non communicabit, 
 A quibus auxilia supplex postulabit ? 
 
 Page 119. 
 
CHAPTER y. 
 SIMON'S GREATEST POWER AND HIS FALL. 
 
 HOSTILE MEASURES ABEOAD — THE LEGATE, WHO IS EE- 
 FUSED ADMISSION INTO THE COUNTEY, EXCOMMUNI- 
 CATES THE EEBELS SIMON SUMMONS THE NOBILITY, 
 
 CLEEGY, KNIGHTS, AND CITIZENS TO PAELIAMENT, 
 
 JANUAEY 20th, 1265 NEGOTIATIONS FOE THE EE- 
 
 LEASE OF PEINCE EDWAED MEASUEES FOE CONSOLI- 
 DATING Simon's powee — deseetion of the eael pf 
 
 GLOUCESTEE — EETUEN OF THE EXILES, AND ESCAPE 
 OF THE PEINCE — OUTBEEAK OF HOSTILITIES ON THE 
 WELSH BOEDEE — THE YOUNGEE SIMON GOES TO 
 
 KENILWOETH DEATH OF THE EAEL AT EVESHAM, 
 
 AUGUST 4tH — EEVEEED AS NATIONAL MAETYE. 
 
 The Earl of Leicester had scarcely assumed arbitrary- 
 power, firmly resolved to use it with all possible 
 moderation;* he had scarcely set himself to encounter 
 
 * Modeste agere conatus est, se nihil magis cavere quam ne 
 vel parvo detrimento vinceret magnates quos ad sacramentum 
 jusjurandi servandum flectere non posset : satis habebat in officio 
 continere, ut qui nusquam acquiescere vellent, minus nocerent, 
 are the words of the Opus Chronicorum of St. Albans, ed. Riley, 
 p. 12. M 2 
 
164 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 V 
 
 peace-breakers of every kind witli unparalleled energy, 
 for tlie sake of the public weal, when he was imme- 
 diately reminded from abroad that this power was 
 itself an intolerable anomaly in the eyes of his con- 
 temporaries. 
 
 Henry III. had been obliged to send early intelli- 
 gence of the terms concluded at Lewes to his brother- 
 in-law of France, but, as he was a captive prince and 
 Louis now neither could nor would act as umpire, no 
 immediate reply had been vouchsafed.* On the other 
 hand, active military preparations were permitted, 
 especially on the Flemish coast, where the nobles who 
 had escaped from the battle-field met with Queen 
 Eleanor. She had remained on the continent since 
 January, and came in the company of her son Edmund, 
 and her uncles Boniface and Peter ; the dispossessed 
 Bishop of Hereford and John Mansell were likewise 
 present. Mercenaries of all nations, Germans, French, 
 Bretons, Gascons, and Spaniards, waited on the shore 
 of Damme for a favourable wind. In repeated letters 
 to Louis, Henry vainly represented that these proceed- 
 ings involved serious peril to his son and nephew, who 
 were retained as hostages. Simon even caused the 
 King to appeal to the law of nations,t whilst he him- 
 
 * De quo turbati sumus et non mediocriter anxiati ; Henry 
 to Loiiis, July 10th. Shirley, ii. 258. 
 
 fDe jure gentium prsedictis obsidibus supremum periculum 
 et status sui subversio. Shirley, 1. c. All the property of the 
 Queen was given in custody on the 28th of July. Rot. Lit. Pat. 
 48 Henr.IIT. membr. 7. Compare Ranke, Englische Geschiclite, 
 vi. 3. 
 
GREATEST POWER AND FALL. 165 
 
 self made vigorous preparations for defence. In the 
 southern counties^ Kent, Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, 
 barons, lay and clerical, knights and common people, 
 were called under arms, and the inhabitants from 
 village to village commanded to equip themselves, 
 each as well as he was able. The ships of the Cinque 
 Ports and of the towns on the east coast, which 
 were distinguished by their patriotism, carefully 
 watched the open sea.* In August the King was 
 brought to the camp on Canterbury heath. But 
 very soon afterwards the hostile army on the op- 
 posite coast dispersed of itself, for the pay was 
 exhausted, and then the sea-voyage appeared quite 
 too formidable. 
 
 At the same time the revolutionary government were 
 unwearied in their efforts to bring about an agreement 
 by diplomatic means, still hoping to obtain a verdict 
 which they could accept, not now from the French 
 King but from a mixed commission. After Louis IX. 
 had himself consented to put no obstacle in the way of 
 a conference at Boulogne, the Earls of Leicester and 
 Gloucester were empowered in the last days of July to 
 
 * Summons for Kent, July 8th, Rymer, i. 444 ; for Essex, July 
 7th, Lib. de Antiq. Leg. 67 ; for the Ports, August 16th ; Rot. Lit. 
 Claus. 48 Henr. III. membr. 4. The barons of the nortli and of 
 the Scotch border were cited repeatedly, but in vain, July 18th, 
 August 5th ; Shirley, ii. 259, 269. The safety of the English 
 merchants commended to the Countess Margareta of Flanders ; 
 ibid. 273, 279. 
 
166 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 arrange the affair.* The Englislimen nominated were 
 the Bishop of London and the Great Justiciary Des- 
 penser ; the Frenchmen^ the Abbot of Bee and Charles, 
 Count of Anjou_, who as candidate for the Sicilian 
 crown already passed for the Earl of Leicester's friend.t 
 As umpire, in case the four could not agree upon their 
 sentence. Archbishop Odo II. of Eouen was selected, 
 a Minorite, with whom, according to the surest testi- 
 mony, Simon had had hospitable intercourse.f It is 
 plain that Simon sought, as far as might be, to place 
 men upon the commission who were favourable to his 
 cause, but at the same time his desire for a peaceful 
 solution of the difficulty was so strong that he further 
 determined upon another noteworthy step. On the 
 4th of September King Richard's son, commonly 
 known as Henry the German, was provisionally 
 released from his confinement at Dover, upon the 
 
 * Henry to Louis : Celsitudini vestrae quantas possumus gra- 
 tiarum referimus actiones ; July 27th. To the two Earls together, 
 July 30th and 31st. The King entreats for delay on account of 
 the danger of war, August 2nd, Shirley, ii. 261-265. 
 
 f Rymer, i. 446, in September, the Thursday after the Nativity 
 of the Virgin. Attamen incHtus comes ille Andegavie Karolus 
 parti com. Leyc. favehat. Chron. Roff. MS. Cott. Nero D. ii. 
 fol. 175. To him and to many bishops and royal counsellors in 
 France Henry addressed entreaties that the military preparations 
 on French soil might be checkegl. Shirley, ii. 265-269, Aug. 2, 4. 
 
 I Utinam inclytus comes Leycestrise vestrae sublimitati, sicut 
 veracitur comperi, in Christo devotissimus, pium sanctse fami- 
 liaritatis contubernium apud vos invenerit, Adam of Marsh had 
 once written to him. Brewer, Mon. Francisc. 86. 
 
GREATEST POWER AND FALL. 167 
 
 surety of nine English bishops and three French 
 envoys, that he might go in person to the French 
 court and further the negotiations for peace.* But it 
 may be imagined how shght, in spite of all this, was 
 the prospect of frank and dispassionate discussion in 
 any quarter, and how bitter the temper of the, two 
 nations, from the fact that when Henry and his suite 
 landed at Boulogne a fight with the inhabitants imme- 
 diately ensued, and nine Englishmen were slain. f 
 But from the beginning one chief and insuperable 
 difficulty hindered all these well-intended eS'orts. 
 
 The Pope had a word to interpose, but after then* 
 victory on the battle-field the Barons steadily refused 
 to grant admission into the kingdom to his Legate, 
 Guide, who had arrived in France some time before. 
 No man understood better than Simon de Montfort 
 how closely the universal supremacy of the hierarchy 
 was interwoven with the power of national monarchs ; 
 he knew that when he, a vassal, sought to appeal to 
 the law as an equal against his liege lord, he ran 
 directly counter to the public opinion of Europe. A 
 captive King was incapable of entering upon any 
 binding treaty. Leicester could never rely upon a 
 general recognition of the exceptional and unparalleled 
 power to which he had risen, least of all could he 
 expect it from the Holy Father, the sole administrator 
 of international law. But to set the King free was 
 obviously equivalent to an immediate rekindling of the 
 
 * Rymer^ i. 446. f Chron. Roflf. 1. c. 
 
168 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 baronial war. The confinement of Henry III. was an 
 ill-fated, althoagh an unavoidable error, and necessarily 
 avenged itself; tbe dilemma into wbich it brought 
 Simon could scarcely have been more serious, for he 
 found himself compelled to maintain his illegitimate 
 authority against the mightiest opponents. 
 
 One more commission, composed of the Bishops of 
 Worcester and Winchester and Peter de Montfort,* 
 bad been sent out to obtain from King Louis and the 
 Papal Legate a recognition of the compromise of Lewes. 
 Apart from the expulsion of aliens, who had, however, 
 become indispensable instruments in carrying out the 
 Papal system of the time, the commissioners were em- 
 powered to make conciliatory proposals upon all points 
 for the sake of re-establishing order in Church and 
 State. To the Pope's representative there was a dis- 
 tinct expression of deference;t the great majority of the 
 English clergy eagerly desired a friendly adjustment 
 of the questions at issue, if merely on account of the 
 tithes imposed by Pome, now collected by the new 
 government, and characteristically refused to it in the 
 province of York alone. J Some other prelates, as 
 those of London and Chichester, voluntarily crossed 
 the Channel that they might, as true peace-makers, 
 
 * Veritatis, pacis et tranquiUitatis zelator, as he is called in 
 his safe-conduct. Rymer, i. 447. 
 
 t Subiciendo nos jnrisdictioni et cohercioni praedicti legati, ut 
 ipse per sententiam excommunicationis et omne genus censurse 
 6cclesiastic8e nos compellere possit ad observationem praeinissorum. 
 Rymer, i. 446. 
 
 I Rymer, i. 446. 
 
//<^ OP THR ^ 
 
 ((U1TI7T3ESIT 
 
 GREATEST POWER AND FA\L/y. ler < V 
 
 encourage conciliatory advances. All was toCT^sginv ■^""^^ 
 pose. Cardinal Guido declined to enter into serious 
 negotiations with them. Wrathful at his exclusion 
 from the kingdom, he held the thunders of excommuni- 
 cation ready to be launched against the present English 
 government and all its supporters, and, when the bishops 
 re-embarked in October after fruitless discussions,, he 
 even sent the anathemas with them for proclamation 
 in their dioceses. It is narrated that when detained 
 by a cruiser from the Cinque Ports and searched at the 
 Dover custom-house, they willingly gave up the parch- 
 ments, and looked on as they were torn in pieces and 
 thrown into the water before their eyes. Immediately 
 afterwards, on the 23rd, the convocation of the English 
 clergy appealed from the Legate to the Holy See.* 
 The bull of excommunication, published on the 20th, 
 in the priory of Hedin, and directed for execution to the 
 archdiocese of Rheims, touched but cursorily upon the 
 conciliation vainly attempted in the conferences at Bou- 
 logne and Gravelines. It denounced in violent terms 
 the crime committed against the Legate,, and excom- 
 municated by name the Earls of Leicester, Gloucester, 
 and Norfolk and their whole party, with special men- 
 tion of the town of London and the Cinque Ports. f 
 But a severer blow meanwhile awaited them, for Pope 
 Urban had died on the 2nd of October; the Cardinal 
 shortly departed for Rome, and he himself, the crafty 
 
 * Thos. Wykes, 156, 157. Rishanger, ed. Halliwell, 38, 39. 
 Ann. de Diinst. 234. Matth. Westmonast. 385. 
 I Rymer, i. 447. 
 
170 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 Proven9al jurist, mounted tlie Papal throne on the 5th 
 of February as Clement lY. 
 
 During the interregnum at Rome the attempts to 
 shake the Earl of Leicester's rule were not discontinued. 
 On the 18th of November King Henry was obliged to 
 write to Louis, as well as to his own consort and Count 
 Peter of Savoy, desiring them to resist the designs of 
 certain persons to alienate the fiefs of his crown on 
 French soil, with all rights and prerogatives apper- 
 taining to them.* Eleanor was gravely suspected of 
 attempting to provide herself with money by such 
 means. In England itself, especially on the Welsh 
 marches, many daring and adventurous nobles, some 
 of whom had escaped from the battle of Lewes, fiercely 
 kept up their feud with Prince Llewellyn of Wales, the 
 ally of the Earl of Leicester, and sought by craft to libe- 
 rate the young Princes, who were held as hostages and 
 at present confined at Wallingford. It was probably for 
 this reason that the strong castle of Kenilworth was 
 assigned to Prince Edward as a residence. There he 
 spent Christmas at the brilliant court of Simon and 
 Eleanor,t and was permitted to receive and confer 
 with some of those zealous royalists, Mortimer, Clifford, 
 and Leiburne,t who had at length bound themselves 
 
 * Ilymer, i. 448. 
 
 t Green, Princesses, ii. 125. 
 
 X The King's mandate dated from Worcester, whither he had 
 been obHged to foUow the Earl, Dec. 15. Eymer, i. 449. Safe- 
 conduct for the three nobles, Dec. 14th. Rot. Lit. Pat. 49 Henr. 
 III. membr. 27. Eundo apud Kenylworth cum propria famiUa 
 sua secum existente ad loquendum cum Edwardo filio suo primo- 
 genito. Compare Lib. de Antiq. Leg. 70 ; Thos. Wykes, 159. 
 
GREATEST POWER AND FALL. 171 
 
 to self-banisliment in Ireland for a term of three years. 
 These meetings prove that he was not harshly treated 
 and that the head of the government did not oppose 
 reasonable terms for his release^ at that time a subject 
 of frequent discussion. Even John Mansell^ who had 
 been so deeply compromised^ was permitted to return 
 home and reside upon his benefice.* 
 
 Though we find only single and scattered notices 
 of these measures^ they illustrate the policy of the 
 statesman whose resources never failed under enor- 
 mous difl&culties^ when France and the Pope, repelled 
 all his overtures, resolved to make no terms except 
 with the independent and legitimate King. He hoped 
 now by a policy of reconciliation towards his domestic 
 enemies to attach more firmly the various classes of 
 the nation who were already amicably disposed towards 
 him. Foremost among these was the Church, no 
 longer the parochial priests and mendicant friars only, 
 but likewise the majority of the bishops upon whom 
 more and more of Grosseteste^s enlightened wisdom 
 seemed to descend, and who looked up with growing 
 confidence to Simon de Montfort as he who was rais- 
 ing a barrier against the whole system of Papal Pro- 
 visions, accomplishing what the King had neglected 
 for more than a generation. The clergy did not will- 
 ingly give up their home property to be the spoil of 
 foreign avarice, and they met the champions of 
 nationality with patriotic sympathy, so far as they had 
 courage to declare it. Next were the knights, whom 
 * Dec. 14 : Rot. Lit. Pat. 1. c. 
 
172 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 the crown had avoided consulting except in the rarest 
 cases of necessity upon single questions connected with 
 public affairs, and the towns, who had been assessed 
 at pleasure from time immemorial, whilst commerce, 
 the element of their life, had never rejoiced in the 
 monarches fostering favour. Leicester resolved to 
 employ them with the Barons in the great council of 
 the realm as never before, and for this purpose he 
 summoned a Parliament to meet in London on the 
 20th of January, 1265, a stroke of daring genius which 
 was to immortalize his memory more than all else. 
 
 In the first writ from Worcester on the 14th of 
 December, " after the agitation was calmed, for salu- 
 tary consultation upon the security, peace, and other 
 affairs of his realm,^^ the King invited the Arch- 
 bishop of York, twelve Bishops and twenty-four Abbots, 
 Priors, and Deans, and on the 24th of the month, from 
 Woodstock, eighty-three other Abbots and Priors, 
 amongst them the Masters of the Knights of St. John 
 and the Templars ; likewise five Earls, Leicester, Grlou- 
 cester,, Norfolk, Oxford, and Derby, and eighteen 
 Barons. Lastly, the sheriffs were charged to send two 
 Knights for each shire, the towns York, Lincoln, and 
 the other boroughs (burgi), each two burgesses, the 
 Cinque Ports each four men.* The comprehensive 
 number of ecclesiastical representatives, prelates and 
 
 * Rymer, i. 449 : duos de legaKoribus et discretioribus mili- 
 tibus singulorum comitatuum . . . duos de discretioribus 
 et legalioribus et probioribus tarn civibus quam burgensibus suis. 
 Summons of the Cinque Ports in the Report on the Dignity of a 
 
GREATEST POWER AND FALL. 173 
 
 heads of chapters, indicated the importance attached by 
 Simon to the clerical order, and the sympathy with his 
 movement that prevailed in it. 
 
 On the other hand only twenty-three lay Barons 
 received writs, probably all who at that time could be 
 reckoned of his party, whilst at least an equal number 
 were passed over, and this restriction showed no less 
 plainly the weakness of his position in regard to this 
 highest order of vassals, and the reason why he ven- 
 tured to introduce knights and burgesses among them. 
 Subsequently, on the 17th of January, ten northern 
 Barons, including Bruce and Baliol, received safe- 
 conducts for the coming Parliament.* It is impos- 
 sible that the city of London was omitted, the greatest 
 and most devoted community in the country, although 
 there is a singular absence of any intimation that an 
 election writ was issued to it. Moreover, no con- 
 temporary has indicated in what manner this most signi- 
 ficant measure was received by the nation. But he who 
 reposed such confidence in the masses of the people in 
 town and country and who was realizing their ardent 
 aspiration, long clearly expressed by word and by pen, 
 to see the laws administered by native Englishmen, to 
 whom they were most familiar, f instead of by inca- 
 
 Peer, Appendix, i. 35 : quatuor de legalioribus et discretioribus 
 portus viri. Cf. Stubbs, Select Charters, 415. Const. Hist. ii. 92. 93. 
 *Rymer, i. 450. 
 
 t Nee cuncti provincise sic sunt idiotae, 
 Quin sciant plus c£eteris regni sui mores. 
 Political Songs, p. 110. Compare Ranke, Englische Geschichte, 
 i. 81, 82. 
 
174 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 pable foreigners,, lie surely could rely, with certainty 
 upon wide popular sympathy. Though the novel and 
 revolutionary character of the measure could not be 
 denied, it had been brought to maturity by the 
 necessities of the political situation. It was a bold 
 experiment in Montfort's hand, but it originated in a 
 profound knowledge of English communal life, where 
 the principle of representation had long been applied to 
 local affairs, and it contained the fruitful germ of a con- 
 ception by means of which the contest of a century for 
 the right of taxation was to be adjusted in future days. 
 No picture is now obtainable of the proceedings of 
 that memorable Parliament, so entirely new in its 
 composition. It had been stated in the writs that the 
 liberation of Prince Edward was to be taken into 
 consideration, and on the 16th of February the King 
 reminded the Earls of Leicester and Gloucester by 
 letter that the date at which this important affair must 
 be concluded was fixed for the 19th. As they and 
 many of their partisans were notoriously about to ride 
 to a tournament at Dunstable, he warned them with 
 the utmost stringency not to cause delay in the business 
 by their absence. This royal writ was countersigned 
 by the Justiciary, the Bishop of London, and Master 
 Thomas de Cantilupe, nephew of the venerable Bishop 
 of Worcester.* He was one of the many pious 
 
 * The two writs of the 16th of February, Rymer, i. 450. The 
 nomination of Cantilupe, Rot. Lit. Pat. 49 Henr. III. membr. 
 22, February 25th. According to an official note, the King 
 folded the document with his own hands, and caused it to be 
 sealed in his presence. 
 
GREATEST POWER AND FALL. 175 
 
 churclimen entirely devoted to the iiational cause ; a 
 few days later lie was raised to the cliancellorsliip. 
 
 Some progress was made hereupon in the business 
 of this protracted session^ especially burdensome to 
 the representatives of shires and boroughs on account 
 of its cost. In a spirit of mutual concession it was 
 believed that the wisest expedient had been found 
 when, on the 10th of March, the Princes Edward and 
 Henry were released from their present confinement 
 and delivered to the King.* Guarantees indispensable 
 for the security of the State were drawn up in a 
 comprehensive Act of Parliament, passed on the 31st. 
 The King and Prince promised the Barons and com- 
 monalty of the landf to pledge themselves by public 
 writs to preserve inviolate the decrees of the Parlia- 
 ment held the preceding June, or the Misa of Lewes, 
 as incorporated in Latin in the French instrument. 
 After recapitulating the amnesty for Leicester and 
 Gloucester, the citizens of London and the Cinque 
 Ports, the King and his son swore, with a reference to 
 Magna Charta, never more to enter into friendly 
 relations with their defeated partisans, and to execute 
 the sentence of outlawry upon all who ventured to 
 resist the convention. On the other hand, they 
 
 * Patent, Rymer, i. 452. The King notified Louis IX. and his 
 consort of the Uberation of liis son, March 14th ; ad commodum 
 et honorem nostrum auctore Domino Hberatus est. Shirley, ii. 
 280. 
 
 t Requere as haux homes e au comun de la tere par lur lettres 
 overtes. 
 
176 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 accepted a fresh oath of homage from all those liege- 
 men with regard to whom they had renounced the 
 feudal bond at Lewes, the victors reserving the right 
 of release if the crown should repeat the renounce- 
 ment. The custody of castles was to be entrusted to 
 unsuspected persons ; no. aliens might be brought into 
 the kingdom without consent of the council; the Prince's 
 suite must thenceforth be composed entirely of trust- 
 worthy natives, and he was prohibited from leaving 
 England during the three following years on pain of 
 losing all his possessions and dignities. Five of his 
 fortresses had been already occupied, the year before ; 
 and whilst these remained as pledges in the hands of 
 the government, and Bristol was added as a sixth, 
 Simon further required from him a personal security 
 which coincided with the necessary military defence of 
 the country. He transferred to the Prince a fief of his 
 own of corresponding value in exchange for the castle 
 and county of Chester and the castles of the Peak and 
 Newcastle in the north, the most important posts for 
 overawing Wales and Scotland. An appeal to the 
 Pope for intervention was expressly instanced as a 
 breach of faith. Lastly, all peers and subjects of the 
 realm, not only in England but also in Ireland and 
 Gascony, and even the King of Scotland, were made 
 acquainted with the terms of the agreement by a 
 public proclamation. It was signed and sealed by the 
 King, the Princes Edward and Henry, ten bishops 
 who with burning taper threatened with excommuni- 
 cation all who should act counter to it, the Prior of the 
 
GREATEST POWER AND FALL. Ill 
 
 Knights of St. John^ the Master of the Temple, and 
 the Mayor and Corporation of London. Perhaps even 
 ambassadors of the French King were present, for pass- 
 ports had been made out for them on the 1 hih., a note- 
 worthy evidence that the feudal bond and even the 
 international aspects of the case which had been of 
 influence in the earlier direct negotiations, were not 
 disregarded on this occasion.* 
 
 The court party naturally found no pleasure in this 
 form of coercion, and only submitted with silent re- 
 sentment in expectation of a reaction. They desired 
 that even in duress the King should appeal to the 
 inalienable right conferred by coronation and anoint- 
 ing ; they noted every change of expression in the 
 Earl of Leicester's face, and found instead of care and 
 heaviness only firm and joyful resolution reflected 
 there. t But the royalist and foreign party had now no 
 other point of agreement than the ofience against 
 legitimacy, hence the innumerable bitter accusations 
 
 *The Act of ParHament, Edward's oath on the 10th, the 
 King's charter of the 14th, safe conduct for the French ambas- 
 sadors of the 15th, transfer of the five castles on the 17th, and 
 the county of Chester on the 20th of March ; all in Rymer, i. 
 451-454. Among the histories, the Lib. de Antiq. Leg. 71-73 
 alone contains authentic information, and shows the active part 
 taken by the city of London in the conclusion of the treaty. Cf. 
 Stubbs, Const. Hist. ii. 94. 
 
 f Nemo comitem Leycestrias vel infractum mente, seu etiam 
 tristem vultu vidit. Ita conscientiam altae nobihtatis inspirabat 
 Spiritus Sanctus et roborabat. Opus Chronicorum, ed. Riley, 
 p. 17. 
 
 N 
 
178 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 against the Earl of Leicester personally, the rapacity 
 of his house, and his whole course of political action. 
 That he had aimed directly at the crown could not be 
 even distantly asserted, much less proved. The state- 
 ment of one solitary royalist chronicler that Simon 
 had appropriated eighteen baronies, corresponds with 
 the truth only inasmuch as he had undertaken the 
 administration of numerous estates of exiles, solely for 
 public purposes. Whilst the circumstances were what 
 they" were, it was impossible to permit them to be 
 enjoyed by the opposite party. During the sequestra- 
 tion of the wide domains belonging to the King of the 
 Romans and held as security for his good faith, all his 
 stewards and bailiffs were expressly retained in office.* 
 On the 8th of May, Simon caused the promised equiva- 
 lent for Chester and the Peak to be transferred to 
 Prince Edward by the chancery. f His partisans, 
 many of whom had taken the vow of absolute poverty, 
 denied in words equally decided and enthusiastic that 
 he had ever designed to enrich himself. They held 
 his disinterested devotion to the public weal to be irre- 
 proachable, { and soon the confiscation of his own fiefs 
 and possessions was to confirm their judgment. He 
 was known to friend and foe as an afiectionate father, 
 
 * Rymer, i. 448 ; December 13th, 1264. 
 fRot. Lit. Pat. 49 Henr. HI. membr. 17. 
 
 \ Commodum si proprium comitem movisset, 
 Nee haberet ahum zelum, nee quaesisset 
 Toto Buo studio reformationi 
 Regni, sed intentio dominationi. 
 
 Pohtical Songs, p. 88. 
 
GREATEST POWER AND FALL. 179 
 
 and it is possible that lie connived at the arrogance 
 and violence of his sons ; but the accusation that one 
 of them^ Henry^ the Warden of Dover, laid an embargo 
 for his own benefit upon the bales of wool belonging 
 to French and English merchants^* is unsupported 
 and extremely doubtful. The sole example of a favour 
 bestowed on personal grounds is the grant of a hospice 
 in Westminster to his faithful comrade and cousin,, 
 Peter de Montfort.f Lastly, the stagnation of trade 
 was not in the first instance the work of the Regent, 
 , though caused by the civil war and dissensions with 
 • 4 foreign powers ; the Legate when he published his bull 
 of excommunication had exhorted the nations of the 
 Continent to break off all intercourse with the heretical 
 island. Great was the lamentation of the commercial 
 I classes on both sides of the water when the nimble 
 I guard-ships of the Cinque Ports began to search foreign 
 vessels for goods of all kinds, as well as for Papal 
 mandates and contraband of war. Many necessaries 
 already deemed indispensable, articles of luxury and 
 spices, rose enormously in price. If the Earl of 
 Leicester really said that English productions would 
 suffice for Enghsh peoplej without foreign imports, 
 the" sentitftont does small credit to his economic saga- 
 city, but it accords with the exclusively national atti- 
 
 *Suis usibus, Wykes, 159. 
 
 tRymer, i. 453 ; March 14th, 1265. 
 
 \ Quod sine commeatu extraneorum possunt indigense bonis 
 propriis sustentari. Thos. Wykes, 158. Compare Gescht. v. 
 B England, iii. 785. 
 i ' N 2 
 
180 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 tude in political, ecclesiastical, and even material 
 concerns which, in reliance upon her insular position, 
 England assumed under his rule towards foreign 
 countries. The white cloth worn instead of that dyed 
 in Flanders may be accounted for with equal probabi- 
 lity by the fashion of a warlike age, possessed by 
 crusading ideas. All these influences were of a kind 
 to excite discontent, but they would not have been 
 sufficient to undermine the power of the prudent 
 statesman, who in moral greatness towered far above 
 his contemporaries. To effect this, disaffection must 
 gain ground once more among his associates, and his 
 own adherents make common cause with the exiles 
 who had long been lying in wait. 
 
 During this Parliament the power he had grounded 
 upon wisdom and energy reached its climax. As if 
 seeking for it a designation which should in some 
 measure justify it, he assumed the title of Count 
 Justiciary* in addition to his hereditary dignity of 
 Seneschal of England,t although Hugh Despenser con- 
 tinued to hold the post of Great Justiciary. Is it 
 possible that after the impulse of a great popular move- 
 ment and his own powers had made him the foremost 
 man in the nation, the model of Aragon presented 
 
 * Comes Justiciarius first in a document of January 7th ; Foss, 
 Judges of England, ii. 155. Comes Leicestriae Justiciarius, pro- 
 clamations of May 20th and June 7th, 8tli, and 28th. Rymer, i. 
 455-457. 
 
 f Comes Leicestrise et senescallus Anglise, for the first time 
 again May 20th. Rymer, i. 454. 
 
GREATEST POWER AND FALL. 1«1 
 
 itself to him, where a guardian of national privileges 
 bearing a similar name and holding like authority 
 always confronted the King and permanently limited 
 his power ? 
 
 The parliamentary business proper came to an end 
 in March, and Simon went from London to Odiham 
 Castle in Hampshire, where his wife had held her 
 court for some weeks. Their son Henry accompanied 
 the Princes Edward and Henry thither on the 1 7th of 
 March ; the Earl himself arrived on the 19th with a 
 retinue of 160 horsemen. He remained till the 2nd of 
 April, and very probably saw Eleanor and his house- 
 hold no more after this meeting.* It was not only 
 from the French coast or the Welsh border that the 
 enemy threatened him. Friends and adherents who 
 would not acquiesce in measures of right and justice 
 caused his gravest anxiety. Robert de Ferrers, the 
 wild and unruly Earl of Derby, who had joined the 
 friends of reform chiefly from motives of rapacity, was 
 convicted in the winter of a public breach of the peace 
 andsentencedby hispeers in Parliament to imprisonment 
 in the Tower.f A most fruitful source of discord wasthe 
 avarice of many who had taken prisoners at the battle 
 
 * Rot. Hospic. Comitissse Leicestriae in Hudson Turner, 
 Manners and Household Expences of the XIII. Centmy (Rox- 
 burgh Club) p. 13-15 ; Green, Princesses, ii. 127. 
 
 t Ann. de Dunst. 235. According to Wykes, 160, he was 
 sacrificed to an intrigue of Simon's. According to Ann. Waverl. 
 358, the King was the complainant and Simon appeared as the 
 protector of a friend. 
 
182 SIMON DE MONTFOBT. 
 
 of Lewes and demanded ransoms or indemnification 
 out of their estates. Amongst them was John Gifford, 
 a knight of Leicester's household^ second to none in 
 valour, and probity.* As his requests were repeat- 
 edly denied, he deserted and joined Gilbert of Glou- 
 cester, who, like his father before him, had been alto- 
 gether unwilling to submit to Simon's supremacy. 
 
 This avaricious noble also thought only of rich 
 ransoms, the custody of extensive estates of exiles, and 
 redemption money from the King of the Eomans, 
 whom he claimed as exclusively his captive. The op- 
 position he encountered, and Simon's superior states- 
 manship, reminded the young and ambitious man more 
 and more forcibly of the traditional rivalry between the 
 two houses. Whilst he believed that he was in danger 
 of sharing the Earl of Derby's fate, royalist marchers 
 such as Mortimer andLeiburne, frequented his estates in 
 the west unhindered. The prohibition of the tourna- 
 ment announced between him and Henry de Montfort 
 at Dunstable had reopened the breach between the 
 two rival factions. The Earl of Leicester personally 
 provided for the preservation of the public peace. f 
 Gloucester avenged himself by a violent attack in Par- 
 liament upon the foreigner who assumed dominion over 
 the kingdom, J who kept the monarch a prisoner and 
 
 * Strenuitate miUtse et animi probitate iiulU secundus. Wykes, 
 I.e. 
 
 I Rishanger, ed. Halliwell, 42. 
 
 \ Quod hie alienigena prsesumebat sibi totius regni dominium 
 subjugare. Eishanger, ed. Kiley, 32. 
 
GREATEST POWER AND FALL. 183 
 
 conferred posts and oflBces upon his bishops, whilst 
 he deprived others of their portion. The Bishop of 
 Worcester and Hugh Despenser vainly sought to bring 
 about a reconciliation. It would almost appear that 
 Gloucester, already conspiring with the emigrants, 
 was able to acquire the greater influence over the 
 King. The great Statute was confirmed on the 31st 
 of March, and Henry set out from London on the 2nd 
 of April j Simon and his suite had left the capital pre- 
 viously.* 
 
 His sons had now given notice of another tourna- 
 ment at Northampton on the 19th of April, and the 
 Earl of Gloucester was bidden among others, but he, 
 suspecting that some snare was laid for him, had with- 
 drawn towards the Welsh border, where the symptoms 
 of revolt were becoming more and more evident. After 
 his departure from Odiham, Simon again kept the 
 King and Princes with him. He had gone first to 
 Northampton, probably in order to prevent the tourna- 
 ment and the danger it threatened to the public peace, 
 and then turned westward by Gloucester and Hereford. 
 Meanwhile, in the first days of May, John Warenne, 
 Earl of Surrey, and William of Valence, the King's 
 step-brother, landed in Pembroke with 120 armed men. 
 The title of Earl of Pembroke had been once conferred 
 upon William of Valence, but never recognised by the 
 Barons. The two nobles were among those who es- 
 caped from Lewes to France, and by advice of the 
 
 * Juncta sibi miUtum turma noii modica spreto parHamento 
 secessit ad partes occiduas. Thos. Wykes, 161. 
 
184 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 sheriff of Sussex they had been cited on the 19th of 
 March, with Peter of Savoy and Hugo Bigod_, to the 
 Parliament on the 1st of June, there to be iudged 
 and receive justice.* They had chosen rather : iter 
 into alliance with Mortimer and Gloucester, aiid acted 
 upon a distinctly preconcerated plan_, having for 
 its object the liberation of the heir to the throne. 
 When the tidings of their arrival reached himy Leices- 
 ter by royal proclamation on the IGth of Miy com- 
 manded the sheriffs everywhere to arrest all diLturbers 
 of the peace. At the same time, in accordance with 
 the last decrees of Parliament, they were ordered 
 solemnly to proclaim the ancient charters and the 
 'articles recently drawn up for the regulation of the ex- 
 isting government.f Against the revolt which would 
 restore the former hopeless condition of the country, he 
 appealed courageously to the public laws established 
 by an act of political contract. 
 
 He still did not relinquish the hope of preserving 
 peace to his country. To that end a pressing 
 message was despatched on the 18th of May to 
 the King of France, with whom intercourse had never 
 been broken off during the interval. As envoy the 
 
 * Rymer, i. 449. 
 
 t Antiquas cartas communium libertatum . . . ordina- 
 tioiiem super nostro et regni nostri statu nuper Londonise factam 
 nee non et quosdam articulos de nostro et magnatum terras nos- 
 trse communi assensu de quibusdam constitutionibus dudum 
 provisis. Shirley, ii. 282. Also on the Patent Roll, 49 Henr. III. 
 membr. 16. 
 
GREATEST POWER AND FALL. 185 
 
 Earl again sagaciously chose Henry, Richard's son, 
 who from the beginning had had intercourse with both 
 parties. The King had to command him to depart 
 wit >eed and to remain as long as his commission 
 required.* The Earl of Gloucester, Gifford, and their 
 confederates, had taken up a threatening position in 
 Dean Forest north of the estuary of the Severn. 
 With .hem also negotiations were opened, as they 
 always asserted their intention of remaining faithful 
 to the Provisions of Oxford. The Bishop of Worcester 
 and four other mediators were indefatigable in their 
 efforts, and in order to tranquillize the mind of the 
 nation, it was announced on the 20th of May that the 
 concord between the two Earls had never been dis- 
 turbed.f Even the banished nobles, Clifford and Lei- 
 burne, were again admitted to the presence of their 
 favourite. Prince Edward, as he sojourned at Hereford 
 whilst following the progress of the court. Warenne 
 and Valence, who had requested restitution of their es- 
 tates from the King, were bidden to appear in person. 
 But all these well meant measures only served to 
 enable them to strike their blow with greater effect. 
 Not in open and honourable encounter, but stealthily 
 and craftily, they dealt the thrust, the consequences of 
 which were destined to ruin the hated ruler. 
 
 Since the last Parliament Prince Edward had been 
 
 * Rex prorogavit ei termimim suae reversionis usque ad termi- 
 num ab ipso petitum. Official note to the patent of May 18th. 
 Rymer, i. 455. 
 
 f Eymer, i. 455. 
 
186 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 permitted to move about upon parole with compara- 
 tive freedom in the society of Henry de Montfort, 
 Eobert de Eos, and Thomas de Clare^, a brother of 
 the Earl of Gloucester and the Princess closest friend.* 
 The Earl of Leicester had a special affection for this 
 youth, and showed an unaccountable absence of 
 suspicion by retaining him in such a position of trust, 
 even after the recent rupture. On the evening of the 
 28th of May the young men were testing their 
 horses before the gates of Hereford. After the 
 Prince had tired out several horses, he mounted 
 afresh and suddenly galloped away, followed by 
 Clare, another knight, and four squires, towards a 
 thicket where Roger Mortimer lay concealed with 
 a few troops. t The Prince soon found himself free, 
 and commander of Wigmore, his liberator^s castle. 
 The alarm at court was enormous, for it was now 
 scarcely possible to prevent a combination on the part 
 of the fugitives with Gloucester, the marchers, and 
 other royalists who were advancing from Pembroke. 
 Two days later the whole feudal militia was sum- 
 moned to meet forthwith at Worcester, with the excep- 
 
 *Tanquam familiaris et cubicularius. Thomas Wykes, 162, 
 t Die Jovis in ebdomade Pentecostes, circa horam vespertinam, 
 a militum comitiva, quos secum ad spatiandum extra Hereford 
 duxerat, cum diiobus militibus et qiiatuor sciitiferis, propositi sui 
 consciis. The official report in the royal proclamation of the 
 '30th of May. Rymer, i. 455. The account given by Wykes, 
 163, corresponds therewith, and mentions Clare by name. Rish- 
 anger, ed. Riley, 33 ; ed. HalHwell, 43 ; Chron. de Mailros, 198. 
 
GREATEST POWER AND FALL. 187 
 
 tion of sucli as had declared for Gloucester. Whoever 
 dared to aid the insurgents should himself be treated 
 as a rebel, especially after the Earl of Gloucester had 
 now publicly broken his oath and written word, for 
 in the language of the official proclamation the conflict 
 appeared as a feud between him and Leicester.* In 
 these days Simon acted as Justiciary for the King, 
 Peter de Montfort, Giles of Argenton, and Eob'ert of 
 St. John as counsellors ; on the 8th of June Henry 
 signed a mandate directing the Bishop of London and 
 the other Bishops of the province to excommunicate 
 all who had misled the Prince and induced him to 
 break his oath,t especially the knights of the border. 
 He lamented the hazardous exploit of which his son 
 had been guilty, regardless of the solemn promise 
 given as lately as the preceding March. He informed 
 the citizens of London of the recent events in a letter 
 of considerable length, perhaps even then with the 
 design of winning their sympathy. Two days later, 
 on the 10th, when dealing with the same subjects, in 
 writing to the Archbishop of Dublin and the Irish 
 estates concerning the Princess confinement and those 
 marchers who were originally banished to Ireland, 
 Henry already described the battle of Lewes as detest- 
 able. J Even now the Protector no longer held the 
 
 ^Rjnaaer, i. 456; June 7th. 
 
 t Quern proh dolor ! ad credendum levem et ad circumvenien- 
 dum facilem invenerunt . , . qui cum eisdem se nobis con- 
 tumacem, et rebeUionis filium exhibet in praesenti. E-ymer, 1. c. 
 
 I Post illud detestabile bellum de Lewes. Rot. Lit. Pat. 49 
 Henr. III. membr. 13. 
 
188 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 the puppet whom he kept near him with a firm 
 grasp. 
 
 A few days after his flight Edward met Gilbert of 
 Gloucester at Ludlow Castle and swore to him to pre- 
 serve the ancient institutions of the realm, and never 
 to employ foreign ministers. A junction with Warenne 
 and Valence was effected ; in the south and in the 
 north of the marches the insurrection blazed unhin- 
 dered. Simon^s command to the garrison of Bristol 
 Castle to hold it for the King alone, arrived too late.* 
 The county palatine of Chester, the border fief which 
 had been withdrawn from the Prince, espoused his 
 cause with alacrity. Shrewsbury, Bridgenorth, Wor- 
 cester, where the bridge was destroyed, and lastly, on 
 the 29th, the town and castle of Gloucester, the entire 
 line of the Severn, declared for Prince Edward, who 
 now sought by means of this position to shut up the 
 Earl of Leicester in Hereford, with the King, his invo- 
 luntary companion. All fords and bridges were de- 
 stroyed or occupied, and the ships were removed from 
 the stream. In his despair Simon turned to Prince 
 Llewellyn of Wales, the hereditary enemy of the Eng- 
 lish monarch. He had been for some years a welcome 
 guest at Kenilworth, and served as an inglorious sup- 
 port to Montfort's policy with its national aspirations. 
 Now, because of their immediate neighbourhood, his 
 mountaineers were the only accessible allies, and in 
 order to make sure of them, considerable districts, 
 
 * Rymer, i. 457 ; June 9th. 
 
GREATEST POWER AND FALL, 189 
 
 which had been seized by the English crown and no- 
 bility, were restored to Llewellyn. In return he was 
 to pay 30,000 marks and to swear fealty not to the King 
 only but also to the decrees of the last Parliament, 
 even in case the King should be unfaithful to them."^ 
 Being in this locality and in such exigencies the cham- 
 pion of the constitution did not hesitate to admit a 
 semi-barbarous chieftain into the parliamentary system, 
 whilst the royalist knights in the conquest of the 
 Cymri adhered to the allotted task of their race. It 
 is possible that Earl Simon, as a Frenchman by birth, 
 was less inspired by hatred toward the Celts; it is 
 certain that conquest generally formed no part of his 
 programme. 
 
 From Hereford he now marched with the King to 
 Monmouth, where they remained several days. An 
 attempt to rescue the town of Gloucester failed, for 
 Prince Edward and Warenne were on the spot before 
 them.f They would have crossed the Channel from 
 Newport, but the enemy ^s ships barred the passage, 
 and the troops came to blows in the streets of the 
 town. They were compelled to march back to Here- 
 ford through forests and inhospitable regions where the 
 
 * Two written pledges of Llewellyn's, dated June 19th; 
 Shirley, ii. 283-287. The King's ratification of June 22nd; 
 Rymer, i. 457. The London Alderman says indignantly: per 
 iniquum consilium; Lib. de Antiq. Leg. 73. 
 
 f In Monmouth, on the 25th and 28th ; Rot. Lit. Pat. 49 Henr. 
 ni. membr. 12, and Eymer, 1. c. Further information concern- 
 ing the movements on both sides in the fragment of a letter from 
 G-. de Morley to H. de Manley ; Shirley, ii. 288. 
 
190 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 English soldiers pined for bread among people wlio 
 subsisted upon milk and goats^ flesh .^ 
 
 Whilst at Monmouth, on the 28th of June, Leicester 
 had summoned his son Simon and the guardians of 
 the peace for Dorset, Devon, and Somerset to come to 
 his assistance, and young Montfort had meanwhile 
 raised the siege of Pevensey Castle, on the coast of 
 Sussex, still held by the opposite party, in order that 
 he might force a way of escape for his father in the 
 north-west. But he wasted precious time by a series 
 of incomprehensible movements. First he turned to- 
 wards London, where the popular Mayor, Thomas 
 Fitz-Thomas, who had been re-elected from year to 
 year, already had difficulties in repressing the growing 
 party of the aldermen by coercive measures. f Then, 
 at the head of sixteen knights bannerets, and a troop 
 of London infantry, he hastily returned southward to 
 Winchester. The royalist citizens kept their gates 
 closed, but he forced an entrance on the 16th of July, 
 and Jews and Christians did heavy penance for their 
 resistance. After marching hither and thither by 
 Oxford and Northampton, evidently for the purpose of 
 everywhere collecting troops, he finally reached Kenil- 
 worth, but, instead of taking up his quarters within 
 the walls of the familiar castle, he imprudently occupied 
 the farms and hamlets. Here, in the night of the 31st 
 of July, he was suddenly surprised by Prince Edward, 
 
 * Wykes, 164-168. Ami. Waverl. 362, 863. 
 fLib. de Antiq. Leg. 114, 115. The writer, Arnold Thedmar, 
 a German by descent, was amongst those threatened. 
 
GREATEST POWER AND FALL. 191 
 
 Yalence, and Warenne, wlio having exact information 
 of his movements from their spies, had hastily advanced 
 from Worcester. The Barons, the Earl of Oxford 
 among them, were taken without weapon or armour 
 and made prisoners ; the young Montfort escaped in 
 his shirt, with a few companions over the lake into the 
 castle.* The Earl of Leicester had reckoned upon 
 successfully breaking through the line of the Severn 
 as his son advanced, and Prince Edward, fearing that 
 this bold counter-march to Kenilworth might give the 
 skilful strategist an opportunity of discovering a week 
 point, hurried back to his post as soon as he had 
 secured his booty and prisoners at Gloucester. 
 
 Without a suspicion of the fate of those who should 
 have succoured him, the Earl had started from Hereford 
 on Sunday, the 2nd of August, and crossed the Severn 
 at Kempsey, an estate belonging to Bishop Walter, 
 four miles south of Worcester. It was not till the 
 following evening that they proceeded unchecked to 
 the Abbey of Evesham, where the monks prepared a 
 friendly reception. Here they heard mass on the 
 following morning ; the King desired to breakfast 
 before starting,t and whilst they tarried, mounted 
 
 * Wykes, 169, 170. llishanger, ed. Halliwell, 44. The attack 
 especially described in the Chron. de Maihos, 199. The state- 
 ment in the Waverley Annals, 363, 364, that the young Simon 
 had already lain six days in Kenilworth, and, confident of victory, 
 had accepted a formal challenge from Prince Edward, stands, 
 alone. 
 
 f Wykes, 171: devenit Eveshamiam tertio die mensis supra- 
 dicti, feria secunda. Ann. Waverl. 364, die Martis .... 
 
192 SIMON DE MONTFORT, 
 
 squadrons were perceived approacliing from the. north- 
 east. As they carried Montfort^s banner^ Simon joy- 
 fully believed that he was already saluting his son. 
 Prince Edward's leopards were first recognised from 
 the belfry ; he had craftily taken the northern road 
 the day before, as if aiming at Shrewsbury or Stafford, 
 and, with the same design of deceiving the enemy, he 
 caused the trophies of Kenilworth to be borne before 
 him. Mortimer and Gloucester, who at first had been 
 hidden by a ridge, now appeared in rear and flank ; 
 all the men of the assailing army were distinguished 
 by red crosses, so that the full gravity of the situation 
 became plain to Simon's troops, who were surrounded 
 on all sides. As he surveyed from an eminence the 
 admirable dispositions of the enemy, and observed 
 nothing of the mad impetuosity which had been so 
 disastrous to the Prince at Lewes the year before, he 
 exclaimed with a feeling akin to pride : "By the arm 
 of St. James, they have not learnt that from them- 
 selves, but from me. Commend your souls to God, for 
 our bodies are theirs.''* The hoary headed Bishop of 
 Worcester had scarcely time to receive confession and 
 pronounce absolution. 
 
 Although the numbers were something like two 
 against seven, f each man scorned to desert singly and 
 
 mane versus Ewesham iter arripuit .... dominus rex 
 cum suis vohiit jentaculari, quod et factum est. Noluit autem 
 dominus Symon de Monteforti ibidem aUquid cibi capere. 
 
 * Eishanger, ed. Halliwell 45 ; ed. Riley, 37 ; Chron. de 
 Lanercost, 76. 
 
 t Chron. de Mailros, 200. 
 
GREATEST POWER AND FALL. 193 
 
 trust to ctance; all were as ready as their gallant 
 leader to sacrifice their lives in a cause which they 
 deemed sacred. The first onslaught^ led by Edward 
 with blare of trumpets, pressed Simon and his army 
 into one closely entangled mass ; it was a case, not for 
 strategic skill, but simply for courage to the death. 
 No other glory remained to them but, in closest con- 
 flict, hand to hand and shield to shield, to sell their 
 lives as dearly as they might. Not one man could or 
 would surrender. Henry de Montfort was hewn down 
 before his father's eyes ; the cousin Peter, Hugh 
 Despenser, and Ralph Basset, faithful to their cause to 
 the end, fell at the side of the old warrior. He, after 
 his horse was killed under him, grasped his sword in 
 both hands and dealt vigorous blows to right and left, 
 until he received a mortal stroke from behind and died 
 a hero's death for the national liberties of his country. 
 Soon the youthful flower of many a noble house lay 
 dead, a Mandeville, a Beauchamp, one hundred and 
 sixty knights in all. The young Guy de Montfort, 
 two sons of Peter, the young Humphrey de Bohun, 
 and others, were dragged but half living from under 
 heaps of slain and made prisoners. Some thousands 
 of Welshmen early sought to make their escape as 
 best they might. Thus an instantaneous revolution in 
 the fate of the kingdom was efiected, not by a battle, 
 for the victor had no noticeable loss to deplore, but by 
 a fearful slaughter that came to a decisive end between 
 six and nine o'clock in the morning. A brilliant 
 comet had long awakened among the people appre- 
 
194 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 tensions of extraordinary events. On the 4th of 
 August a frightful storm devastated many districts.* 
 
 The old King narrowly escaped injury in the tumult, 
 for he was unrecognised by the victors until he cried : 
 " Hold, I am Harry of Winchester." They then led 
 him back in triumph to the Abbey _, and there many of 
 the noble dead found honourable interment, amongst 
 them Henry de Montfort, Prince Edward^ s companion 
 in age, to whom, as the first-born of his brother-in-law, 
 the King had stood godfather. The basest vengeance 
 was wreaked only upon the body of Simon, of him who 
 had died a martyr's death for a deep and powerful 
 conviction. The soldiers, infected by the burning 
 hatred of their leaders, hacked the body in pieces. 
 The arms and legs were publicly exposed in certain 
 prescribed places as the limbs of a traitor ; the head, 
 with its ghastly decoration is said to have been 
 delivered to the bloodthirsty consort of Roger Mortimer 
 at Wigmore.f Such of the remains as the monks of 
 Evesham could collect, they interred quietly and 
 reverently in the chancel of their Abbey church. 
 
 * Upon tlie battle of Evesham it is well to compare Wykes, 
 172-175, with the numerous authorities who lament the Earl's 
 fall. A revision produced nothing essentially new to Blaauw, 
 The Barons' War, p. 242 et seq., and Gesch. v. England, iii. 791 
 et. seq. 
 
 \ Testiculi abscisi fuerunt et appensi ex utraque parte nasi, et 
 ita missum fuit caput, etc. Lib. de Antiq. Leg, 75, 76. Wykes 
 agrees with the other chroniclers in censuring the brutahties 
 which were committed. A miniature picture from MS. Cotton. 
 Nero D. ii. fol. 176 ; in Blaauw, p. 254. 
 
GREATEST POWER AND FALL. 195 
 
 They acted entirely in harmony with the universal 
 veneration which beheld in the departed nobleman, 
 not a rebel, but a disinterested benefactor of the 
 people. Because of its bloody and tragic form, the 
 heavy national loss which clergy and laity mourned in 
 common, became in their eyes a glorious martyrdom 
 suffered for the peace of the country, and the welfare 
 of Church and State.* His death again brought the 
 rare image in its completeness before the minds of his 
 contemporaries. His courage and his loftiness of 
 temper, seeking not its own, but aiming ever to protect 
 the poor man from oppression and establish righteous- 
 ness and justice in the State, became articles of belief 
 to which Heaven itself had set the seal of truth. He 
 had been an ally of the clergy at all times, and they 
 now, high and low, priests and monks, celebrated his 
 profound knowledge of the Scriptures no leas than his 
 reverent and constant devotion. Himself, sure and 
 steadfast as his word, he trusted implicitly in their 
 mediation and vied with them in fasting and watching. 
 His intimate connection with the ever memorable 
 Bishop of Lincoln was a household word under 
 innumerable roofs. The people would have it that 
 Grosseteste had once charged his friend, as penance 
 for his sins, to devote himself till death to the cause 
 
 * Eishanger, ed. Halliwell, p. 48 : Praecipue religiosi, qui 
 partibus illis favebant vel favere credebant. Ann. Waverl. 365 : 
 Martyrium pro pace terrse et regni reparatione et matris ecclesiae, 
 lit credimus, consummavit gloriosum. The chronicle of these 
 Cistercians is contemporaneous till 1266; Luard, p. xxxvi. 
 
 O 2 
 
196 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 for which he fought_, because the peace of the English 
 Church could not now be secured without the instru- 
 mentality of the sword of iron.* He was second to no 
 man in the nation in genuine piety, and the crown of 
 saintship was the , guerdon of his undying merit ; 
 enthusiastic followers had predicted it_, and it was 
 conferred by the people themselves, not by the Pope 
 at the King's request. From the miracle said to be 
 performed by the dissevered hands when they were 
 taken to Wigmore, there grew a catalogue of two 
 hundred and twelve, chiefly benevolent acts of healing 
 upon men and beasts. The pious and superstitious 
 gratitude passed ere long into a fully developed cult. 
 A liturgy, in prose and verse, used in the adoration of 
 this political saint is still extant, but some enemy's 
 hand has carefully cut out two pages containing the 
 biographical sketch customary even for church ser- 
 vices.f 
 
 It cannot be without reason that, with a few remark- 
 able exceptions, all contemporary records, the annals 
 
 *Asserens pacem ecclesiae AngKcanse sine gladio materiali 
 lion posse firmari, et constanter affirmans, omnes pro ea morientes 
 martyrio coronari. So in St. Albans, Eishanger, ed. Riley, p. 36. 
 f MS. Cotton, Vespasian A. vi. fol. 189 : 
 
 Salve Symon Montis Fortis, 
 
 Totius flos militise 
 Duras poenas passus mortis. 
 Protector gentis Angliae, etc. 
 Ora pro nobis, beate Symon ! ut digni efficiamur promissionibus 
 Christi. Halliwell, Eishanger, p. 67 et seq. Wright, Political 
 Songs, 124. Chronicon de Mailros, 201-216. 
 
GREATEST POWER AND FALL. 197 
 
 of monastic houses, whetlier old or new, give to Earl 
 Simon tlie most enthusiastic reverence, as the defender 
 of ecclesiastical and national freedom. The higher 
 ranks also, the baronage and knighthood, so far as they 
 had adhered to him, entertained like sentiments. A 
 French ballad sings, not unworthily, the last heroic 
 struggle of the Earl, the ^ Flower of martial glory,' 
 and his faithful comrades. Strangely enough, and 
 with little appropriateness so far as Pope and King are 
 concerned, it places him side by side with the solitary 
 national saint, the universally venerated St. Thomas 
 of Canterbury.* It was rumoured that the monk's 
 hair-shirt was found after death upon Simon's body as 
 on his. All people were exhorted therefore to cry to 
 Heaven for Simon's mediation, as well as Becket's, 
 with the Holy Virgin's Son, that the faith and its loyal 
 servants in the Church might be delivered at a time 
 when many had become unfaithful. 
 
 Neither Simon's piety nor his military genius was 
 
 * The third verse runs : — 
 
 Mes par sa mort, le cuens Montfort 
 
 Conquist la victorie, 
 Come ly martyr de Canterbyr 
 
 Finist sa vie ; 
 Ne voleit pas H bon Thomas 
 
 Qe perist seinte Eglise, 
 Ly cuens auxi se combati 
 E morust sauntz feyntise. 
 Or est ocys la flur de pris, que taunt savoit de guere, 
 Ly cuens Montfort, sa dure mort molt enplorra la terra. 
 Eitson, Ancient Songs, i. 15 ; Wright, Political Songs, 125. 
 
1P8 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 the sole reason of his enduring fame. It was due no 
 less to his championship of the oppressed classes, in 
 which he had at that time no rival, and to the great 
 political experiment of convoking classes of the people 
 hitherto unrepresented. But no man could yet foresee 
 that through it the way would actually be prepared 
 one generation later for deliverance from the conflict* 
 of a century, and the English government advanced 
 by contract and stipulation to the form best befitting 
 it. Simon himself probably died without the assurance 
 that he had earned immortality by this means.* It 
 first became clear to the nation when the conqueror of 
 Evesham, the great King upon his throne, found him- 
 self compelled to readopt that creative idea, and intro-» 
 duced representatives of the commons in the name of 
 the crown into the political system, for the purpose of 
 sharing in the right of taxation. But at that time 
 men overlooked the many impure motives that had in- 
 fluenced the course of conduct pursued by the Earl, 
 and the disasters he might have brought upon the State. 
 His foreign birth, the personal quarrel with the King, 
 his violence of temper and lust of power, the fatal 
 necessity of always exercising illegal coercion after he 
 had conquered, all these circumstances combined to 
 form a chain in which he himself became ever more 
 closely bound. True, only he among the rival parties 
 
 * As Sir James Mackintosh well puts it, History of England, 
 i, 238 : " He died unconscious of the imperishable name which 
 he acquired by an act which he probably considered as of very 
 small importance." 
 
GREATEST POWER AND FALL. 199 
 
 displayed constructive genius and a warm zeal for jus- 
 tice. But did he and tlie nation really understand 
 each other, though the English celebrated him as a 
 martyr and a hero of romance ? Morever, it woaldi 
 have been impossible for England to tolerate in the! 
 thirteenth century any approach to the republican form I 
 of government under an illegitimate Protector which ' 
 proved impossible when it was atttempted in the 
 seventeenth. The monarchy upon which the State 
 had been grounded .could not be uprooted, even from 
 the hearts of those early friends of constitutional 
 government. For the sake of the public weal it must 
 be restored to its rights. The papacy, whose doctrine , 
 no one in this land of ancient orthodoxy yet ventured \ 
 seriously to question, possessed claims of which it 
 could not suffer itself to be deprived, least of all by 
 revolutionary means. Both combined proved event- 
 ually stronger than the popular movement.* Only 
 when they were again disunited, a new epoch dawned 
 of change, concessions, and reforms. 
 
 * See the excellent characters of Simon and Edward I., drawn 
 by Stubbs, Const. Hist. ii. 99, 100, 298. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 END OF THE CIVIL WAR AND OF THE HOUSE 
 OF MONTFORT. 
 
 EESTOEATION AND EEACTION AGREEMENT OF KENIL- 
 
 . WORTH, 1266 — REVOLT OP THE EARL OF GLOUCES- 
 TER AND THE CITY OF LONDON — PEACE THROUGH 
 
 THE MEDIATION OP THE LEGATE, 1267 PATE OP 
 
 THE COUNTESS OF LEICESTER AND HER CHILDREN 
 
 ELEANOR IN FRANCE THE MURDER AT VITERBO, 
 
 MARCH 13, 1271 DEATH OP THE BROTHERS SIMON 
 
 AND GUY— AMAURY, AND ELEANOR, THE LAST PRIN- 
 CESS OF WALES. 
 
 The elaborate political structure, which an architect 
 of genius had sought to raise from the provisions of 
 the mad Oxford Parliament, fell to pieces on the day 
 of Evesham. The King was once more his own master, 
 and immediately laid claim to the full authority of his 
 ofl&ce. He announced by public proclamations that 
 he would now rule by his own independent power, as 
 in former times, and he revoked the mandates extorted 
 from him and issued by the Earl of Leicester, who 
 
END OF THE CIVIL WAR. 201 
 
 had made an unwarrantable use of the great seal.* 
 The King's sheriffs were immediately appointed to all 
 the counties. After Simon the younger, who had 
 vainly sought to bring assistance to his father from 
 Kenilworth on the 4th of August, had thrown himself 
 behind the strong walls of the castle, he at least libe- 
 rated his prisoners, King Richard with his younger son 
 Edmund. The widow of Despenser capitulated in the 
 Tower. Although warlike and energetic as no other, 
 Edward nevertheless advised an immediate treaty with 
 the hostile garrisons, and fair terms to the inhabitants 
 of the Cinque Ports if they would desist from their 
 marine expeditions, and freely return to their obedience 
 to the King.t 
 
 As soon as the gates of the kingdom were again at 
 the disposal of the conquerors, a Parliament was con- 
 voked at Winchester. All the Bishops were invited, 
 except the four specially compromised, London, Lincoln, 
 Worcester, and Chichester, and among the higher nobi- 
 lity all who had either remained faithful to the crown, 
 
 * Prsefatus comes literas sigillo nostro, quo non nos, sed comes 
 ipse pro suo utebatur arbitrio formari fecit. E-jmer, i. 458 ; 
 Worcester, August 7. Literas sigillo nostro, quo pro suo libito 
 voluntatis utebatur, signari fecit ; to Archbishop Boniface. Rot. 
 Lit. Pat. 49 Henr. III. membr. 9, August 24th. Wykes says, 
 p. 168, of the conclusion of the treaty with Llewellyn : Eamque 
 sigillo regio consignavit, quod duobus laicis deportandum com- 
 miserat, viz., Do^iino Petro de Monteforti et Domino R. de 
 Sandwych ndhtibus, quod a seculo fuerat inauditum. 
 
 t Dum tamen voluntati domini nostri se submittant. August 
 24th, Shirley, ii. 289. 
 
202 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 OYj after suspicion of disloyalty, came forward now to 
 make their peace. Even the widows of royalist gentle- 
 men slain in the civil war were represented. With the 
 vengeance and precipitancy inevitable in all reactions, 
 every act of government since the battle of Lewes was 
 here declared null and void, all the rebels were out- 
 lawed who had borne arms at Kenil worth or Evesham, 
 their estates confiscated, and the greed of the victors 
 satiated from the enormous mass of property thus left 
 without owners. Gloucester, Valence, Roger Mortimer, 
 and Philip Basset, as well as the Princes Edward and 
 Henry, took care to be recompensed for their services. 
 The spiritual and temporal Barons were solicited for 
 advances of money to assist in discharging the enor- 
 mously swollen debts of the King of the Romans. Ed- 
 mund, once King designate of the Sicilies, was consoled 
 with the whole fief of the late Earl of Leicester, the 
 office of Lord High Steward of the realm, the earldom 
 of Derby, and other estates of rebels. Even loyal 
 partisans shook their heads at a revolution so extrava- 
 gant.* Property changed hands much more rapidly 
 and extensively than in the previous year, when the 
 Regent had sought to suppress with a firm hand the 
 most self-seeking of his partisans, and to put the 
 property of his adversaries under the guardianship of 
 the State. The country swarmed with outlawed 
 patriots, who began to collect together in scattered 
 
 *Wykes, 183 : Rex et sui complices non sicut decuerat cautiores 
 effecti, sed potius stultiores. Further, Gesch. von England, iii. 
 797, et seq., and Catalogue of Transfers, Blaauw, 267, 268. 
 
E^D OF THE CIVIL WAR, 20a 
 
 groups in remote and inaccessible regions, especially in 
 the low lying marshes around Ely and Cambridge, 
 precisely in those districts where the last Anglo-Saxons 
 had defied the iron rule of the conqueror. The fate of 
 the City of London was peculiarly hard when it was 
 compelled to surrender at discretion in October, and 
 its plenipotentiaries were confined at Windsor in spite 
 of safe-conducts ; not only did it atone for the demo- 
 cratic government of recent years, but also it was 
 compelled, by the banishment and plunder of many 
 citizens and the payment of 20,000 marks sterling 
 from the City treasury, to make expiation for ofiences 
 against Henry and his consort. King Richard and 
 Prince Edward. The ancient charter conferring the 
 right of self-government was nullified so long as the 
 Constable ruled unrestrained in the Tower as King's 
 Seneschal, and a number of citizens were held as host- 
 ages for the obedience of the restless populace* even 
 after the pardon granted on the 10th of January, 1266. 
 The sharpness of the antagonism, defiance on one 
 side and imprudent revolution on the other, prevented 
 the pacification of the kingdom for more than a year. 
 At first, moreover, the Pope^s movements indicated an 
 intention to inflict chastisement. Clement IV., who 
 when Legate had vigorously opposed this revolt, dan- 
 gerous alike to throne and altar, f had, before he heard 
 
 *Lib. de Antiq. Leg. 77-82. Rymer, i. 464, October 6. Re- 
 port of Earl Humphrey of Hereford ; October 6tli, Shirley, ii. 293. 
 
 f Clement IV. to Louis IX. Reynaldi, xxii. 179, 1265 : Quid 
 putas, fili charissime, in iis agi ? quid per talia machinamenta 
 
204 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 of Simon^s fall, despatched Ottoboni, tlie Cardinal Dea- 
 con of St. Adrian, to England, with instructions to 
 warn the Barons and the Prince against all fellowship 
 with him.* After the news of victory he came to the 
 King^s assistance with a grant of tithes for one year, 
 absolved the Earl of Grloucester, and congratulated the 
 Prince and his father upon their liberation. f When, 
 at the end of October, the Cardinal Legate crossed the 
 Channel with the Queen who had remained two years 
 in France, his journey to London took the form of a 
 triumphal progress of the victorious ecclesiastical 
 power. The Pope advised conciliatory measures, since 
 severity, though it subdued individuals, would only 
 irritate the great body of the nation,^ but both parties 
 were still too warmly excited to listen to the voice of 
 reason. Prelates who had been so deeply implicated 
 as the Bishops of London, Chichester, Winchester, and 
 Worcester, were necessarily called to account ; it was 
 enough that in the previous year they had not executed 
 the sentence of excommunication entrusted to them 
 
 quaeri ? ad quid per tales eorundem baronum insidias anhelari, 
 nisi ut de regno illo regium nomen aboleatur omnino et extincto 
 ibi semine regio ipsi regnent? nisi ut Christianus populus a 
 devotione matris ecclesiae et observantia fidei orthodoxse aver- 
 tatur. Compare Ranke, Englische Geschichte, i. 82. 
 
 * Two bulls of the 18th of September ; Eymer, i. 460, 461. 
 
 f Lata nobis et tristia nunciasti to Ottoboni XIII. Kal. Oct. 
 in MS. Add. Mus. Brit. 15, 362, fol. 83, and five buUs in Rymer, 
 i. 462-465. 
 
 J Clement IV. to Henry III., October 4th: Cum fervor vin- 
 dictse paucorum odium reprimat, multorum irritet. 
 
END OF THE CIVIL WAR. ' 205 
 
 against tlie Earl of Leicester and his party. The 
 Legate suspended them from their office in sol'emn 
 session, and the three first were further condemned to 
 a penitential pilgrimage to Rome. The aged Walter 
 of Cantelupe, immovably loyal to his convictions, was 
 rescued by death from the evil days in store for him, 
 as even an adversary expresses it ;* he died on the 
 12th of February, 1266. It was universally believed 
 that the glory of saintship would have been his if he 
 had not thrown in his lot with Leicester. 
 
 To exercise grace and mercy towards those who 
 persisted in keeping up a finale to the drama of the 
 civil war was still more difficult, for the garrison of 
 Kenilworth held out with the heroism of despair, and 
 the strong bands of outlaws in the midland and eastern 
 parts of the island repeatedly extended to them a 
 helping hand. It was not till the summer of 1266 
 that a regular siege of the fortress could be formed, 
 and even this gave no promise of speedy success. In 
 September the Pope renewed his sentence against the 
 rebels with added severity ; at most the Legate might 
 only absolve from excommunication upon the bed of 
 death.f But the obstinate resistance which they still 
 
 * Qui tanta sanctitatis eminentia cseteris praepollebat episcopis, 
 quod nisi contra juramentum quod Domino regi de fidelitate 
 [fecerat] imo etiam contra inhibitionem sedis Apostolicae Comiti 
 Leycestriae tarn familiariter et fortiter adhaisisset, in catalog© 
 Sanctorum non immerito fuerat ascribendus. Wykes, 180. 
 Compare Eishanger, ed. Kiley, 47. 
 
 f Rymer, i. 469 ; September 15th. 
 
206 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 encountered^ gradually forced the government to con- 
 sider their own position. In the higher and lower 
 ranks alike, those who had either remained faithful to 
 the crown, or ultimately submitted, began afresh to 
 murmur against the endless military and financial ex- 
 actions. So it came to pass that at a Parliament held 
 on the 24th of August, in sight of Kenilworth Castle, 
 the King and his counsellors nominated three Bishops 
 and three Barons, with whom an equal number of de- 
 puties from the estates were permitted to co-operate. 
 Under the guidance of the Legate and Prince Henry, 
 these twelve drew up the sentence (Dictum) of Kenil- 
 worth, an earnest attempt to restore peace to the 
 kingdom and to make fair terms with the dispossessed 
 nobles.* On the 31 st of October this decision received 
 legal sanction in the national assembly, then trans- 
 ferred to Northampton. The Legate himself confirmed 
 the Great Charter, though only in the form used at all 
 ratifications since 1225. The tithes were granted to 
 the King for three years at the Pope's suggestion, and 
 but little to the satisfaction of the clergy. The out- 
 laws, with the sole exception of the descendants of 
 Leicester and Robert Ferrers, the wild Earl of Derby, 
 were to receive back their estates from those to whom 
 they had been transferred, upon condition of giving 
 up the revenues for one, two, three, four, or five years, 
 according to the measure of guilt in each case. All 
 legislation developed from the Provisions of Oxford 
 
 *Annales Waverl. :371 et seq. For the particulars, Stubbs, 
 Const. Hist. ii. 9C. 
 
END OF THE CIVIL WAR. 207 
 
 was once more solemnly annulled.* There was no 
 lack of dissension daring this and the next following 
 reign^ but these concessions^ inspired by the prudent 
 advice of Rome, first wrought a substantial improve- 
 ment in the condition of the country, after it had 
 steadily deteriorated since the beginning of the cen- 
 tury. 
 
 The courageous defenders of Kenilworth still perse- 
 vered in their resistance, perhaps because from them 
 alone seven years income of their confiscated estates 
 was required as ransom. t They did not capitulate till 
 all means of sustenance were consumed, and all pro- 
 spect of help had vanished. And still the public peace 
 was not established, for the rebels were so strong in 
 the eastern counties that they even obtained possession 
 of such towns as Lynn, Cambridge, and Norwich, and 
 at the same moment the most dreaded peer in the 
 country rose in arms once more, because the new 
 securities for the national privileges now by no means 
 satisfied him. Like many contemporaries of the same 
 rank, Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, had fought 
 both for and against constitutional rights ; in the com- 
 mittee of twelve he had zealously supported the agree- 
 ment of Kenilworth, but encountered violent opposition 
 from the ultras of Roger Mortimer's faction, who would 
 not hear of restoring the estates forfeited by high 
 treason. Thus he was placed in the same position as 
 
 * Dictum de Kenilworth, Statutes of the Realm, i. 12 ; Select 
 Charters, 419. 
 
 f Ann. de Dunst. 243. 
 
208 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 that to which he himself had once helped to bring 
 Montfort. Apprehensions of an attack from the Barons 
 of the border compelled him to consider means for se- 
 curing the safety of his person and his neighbouring 
 domain^ and, as a mediation attempted by Warenne 
 and Valence failed, and he did not venture to appear 
 himself with the army when, in February, 1267, the 
 King lay encamped near Bury St. Edmunds, he sud- 
 denly appealed once more to the Provisions of Oxford. 
 He referred to the oath sworn to him by Edward 
 immediately after his liberation, that foreigners should 
 thenceforth be excluded from possessions and influence. 
 And did not Valence claim the earldom of Pembroke ? 
 Was not the King about to transfer Norfolk from the 
 haughty Roger Bigod, who had likewise been impli- 
 cated in the popular movement, to his own son-in-law, 
 the son of the Duke of Brittany ? Taking his stand 
 upon the Dictum, Gloucester further demanded that 
 the outlaws should receive an amnesty, instead of being 
 subjugated by force. He expressly asserted that he 
 took up arms solely against Mortimer and his confe- 
 derates, not against the King and his son.* When 
 the Legate summoned the insurgents in the fens 
 of Ely and Axholme to return to their obedience to 
 Church and Crown, they replied defiantly in the phrase- 
 ology which had meant so much under Simon de 
 
 *Wykes, 198-202, Ann. de Dunst. 245. Rishanger, ed. 
 Halliwell, 60 ; ed. Riley, 47. See on the checkered poUcy of the 
 two Earls of Gloucester, father and son, Stubbs, Const. Hist. ii. 
 297, 298. 
 
END OF THE CIVIL WAR. 209 
 
 Montfort^ calling themselves loyal sons of the Church 
 and truest patriots ; then, that the defenders of the 
 nation's liberties might not be utterly overpowered, 
 Gloucester rose, and in April marched rapidly upon 
 London. There^ attempts to suppress the democratic 
 party had produced so little effect that very recently, 
 in spite of confiscations and the expulsion of their most 
 energetic comrades, the citizens had tumultuously de- 
 manded the reinstatement of their long idolised Mayor, 
 Fitz-Thomas. Cardinal Ottoboni, who resided in the 
 Tower, could not, or, rather, would not, hinder the 
 Earl's march across the town to Southwark on the 8th 
 day of the month. Gloucester even had an interview 
 with the Legate, who, with Italian adroitness, was 
 probably playing a deep-laid game for the purpose of 
 duly intimidating the court and inducing it at last to 
 desist from its obstinacy.^ Very soon John d'Eyville, 
 one of the boldest partisans in the eastern districts, 
 joined the Earl with his troop of horsemen ; they took 
 possession of the bridge and all the gates ; again the 
 popular party was supremo in the City, and the Legate 
 sat near by in the Tower. 
 
 The King, terrified by the threatening attitude of 
 London,t found himself compelled to relinquish his en- 
 terprise in the east and to summon the Prince from the 
 the north. But it was not till the beginning of May that 
 
 * Unde manifestum est quod comes habuit introitum civitatis 
 per consilium et assensum legati. Lib. de Antiq. Leg. 90. 
 
 f Audito quod civitatum AngUae principissa per infidos indigenas 
 in dolo fuerat occupata. Wykes, 200. 
 
 P 
 
210 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 they were able to approach cautiously from Essex, 
 whilst Gloucester commanded all the western roads. 
 The Legate repaired to the royal head-quarters, freely 
 and unimpeded according to some accounts, rescued 
 from the distresses of a siege according to others. As 
 he. King Richard, his son Henry, and others, urgently 
 advised a reconciliation, terms were at last concluded in 
 the middle of June. The interdict upon London was 
 only nominally renewed. Upon condition of admitting 
 the royal bailiffs and their own aldermen, the citizens 
 now received complete pardon, and the Earl of 
 Gloucester, who had helped them to obtain it, procured 
 the same for himself and for Ey villous followers. The 
 confederates on their side must consent to make com- 
 pensation and give bail.* The outlaws around Ely 
 now raised no material difficulty. After their leader, 
 Nicolas of Segrave, one of Leicester's most faithful 
 adherents, had come to an understanding with Prince 
 Edward, they capitulated on the 11th of July, all the 
 advantages of the Dictum of Kenilworth being still 
 preserved to them. Lastly, with Cardinal Ottoboni's 
 help, the Welsh Prince Llewellyn made his peace at 
 Montgomery on the 29th of September, and thus the 
 last convulsions of the civil war were presently stilled. 
 Rome had recognised that she must not continue to 
 encroach recklessly, as hitherto, upon the independence 
 of the English church, claiming its riches as her own, 
 and obtruding her protectorate over the kingdom in 
 
 * The charters for the Earl and for the City, both of the 16th 
 of June. Eymer, i. 472, and Lib. de Antiq. Leg. 93, et seq. 
 
END OF THE CIVIL WAR. 211 
 
 face of tlie growing sentiment of nationality. The 
 crown at last desisted from the practice of conferring 
 fiefs and oflSces upon foreign kinsmen and favourites. 
 Even the franchises now raised to the rank of national 
 law were applied in a manner well adapted to restore 
 the long disturbed harmony between government and 
 people. In the Parliament summoned to Marlborough 
 in November, 1267, besides the great Barons and ex- 
 perienced administrators (discreti), such as chancellor 
 and judges, some men of lower rank were also 
 admitted.* It re-enacted the Provisions of 1259, 
 thenceforth to be accepted as part of the legislation of 
 the realm, inducing thereby the people, both high and 
 low, to yield dutiful obedience to law. It is not 
 improbable that the shires were represented by their 
 chosen Knights. They and the Barons were cour- 
 teously consulted, but no definite right of participation 
 in State aff"airs, especially in questions of taxation, was 
 conferred upon them. Except the demand for the 
 appointment of the ministers and the election of sheriflPs, 
 almost everything was conceded that had been asked 
 for at Oxford ten years before. Born of the bitterest 
 experience, a spirit of frugality at last prevailed in the 
 treasury, and justice in the tribunals which spoke in 
 the King's name. After King and Barons in conflict 
 with one another had appointed great justiciaries, 
 
 * Convocatis discretioribus regiii tarn ex majoribus quam mi- 
 noribus. Statute of Marlebridge ; Statutes of the Ilealm, i. 19. 
 Compare Report on tlie Dignity of a Peer, i. .159. Cf. Stubbs, 
 Const. Hist. ii. 97. 
 
 p2 
 
212 SIMON DE MONTFORT, 
 
 endowed with a liigli political authority whicli could 
 never be advantageous to the development of the 
 monarchy, this office now entirely disappeared, giving 
 place to supreme judges who presided over the several 
 courts and were irremovable so long as they discharged 
 their functions with integrity.* 
 
 Thus the revolution and the breach with the court 
 of Rome came to an end ; a disturbance of many years 
 standing was settled, and bore some good fruit as well 
 as much that was evil. Now all who were called by 
 the name of Montfort appeared to be driven away under 
 outlawry and ban. What was the end of the race 
 which, as if smitten by a curse, rapidly died out in the 
 branch transplanted to England ? 
 
 When Prince Edward escaped from his guardians on 
 the 28th of May, 1265, the Countess Eleanor with her 
 brilliant household was still at Odiham Castle in 
 Hampshire. Upon hearing of the occurrence she first 
 went to Porchester, where she had an interview with 
 her son Simon ; on the 15th of June she arrived at 
 Dover and took up her residence in the castle, the 
 custody of which was in the hands of her eldest son. 
 It was fully intended to defend the castles upon the 
 coast in order to command the straits of Dover as long 
 as possible. French ambassadors, who kept up con- 
 stant intercourse with the court, now shut up at 
 Hereford, were hospitably entertained,t and numerous 
 
 * Foss, The Judges of England, ii. 156, 221. 
 f Rot. Hospitii Comitissae Leicestrige, ed. Hudson Tui-ner, p. 
 61, where, from the 19th of February till the 1st of October, 
 
END OF THE HOUSE OF MONTFORT. 213 
 
 messengers despatched in various directions ; the last 
 was sent directly to the Earl as late as the 1st of 
 August. Then came intelligence of the cruel blow at 
 Evesham that decided the greatest venture of Eleanor's 
 life, and robbed her at once of her husband and her 
 eldest son. All the proud hopes of this aspiring woman, 
 who for years had declined to follow the paths ap- 
 pointed her, were crushed in a moment. Bowed down 
 to the very earth, she laid aside her purple and put on 
 the widow's weeds she had worn long before in her 
 early youth.* She shaped her life thenceforth after 
 the pattern of a cloister, fasting and dispensing alms. 
 At various times, on the 19th of August and the 3rd of 
 September, masses were said for the soul of her 
 departed husband. f She only gradually relinquished 
 the idea of offering resistance at Dover, as her son 
 Simon did at Kenilworth. But when she recognised 
 the full force of the reaction, meaning for her not 
 princely and fraternal grace but outlawry and banish- 
 ment, then she hoped by giving up the castle to win a 
 gleam of pity. So the garrison was discharged, and 
 all made ready for ajourney. With motherly affection 
 she had caused her younger sons, Richard and Amaury, 
 
 1265, every date is recorded, every change of residence, and 
 every trifling e^cpenditure. 
 
 * Habitum vidualem, quern vote castitatis temere violate per 
 carnis petulantiam indiscrete reliquerat, reassumens. Wykes, 
 179. 
 
 \ Kot. Hospitii, 68 : twelve sliiUings and nine pence for the 
 mass. Many details from the same document collected in Green's 
 Princesses, ii. 146, et seq. 
 
214 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 to join her as quickly as possible, and on tlie IStb. of 
 September sbe sent them across the Channel to Grave- 
 lines.* Amaury already held a canonry at York, which 
 was now forfeited. They took with them the con- 
 siderable sum of 11,000 marks; this the King sought 
 to recover some weeks later in a letter to Louis IX., 
 but apparently in vain.f On the 1st of October she 
 closed her account with the messengers for the last 
 despatch to Kenilworth.J 
 
 Now there was immediate need that she herself should 
 seek refuge for the last time in France, for on the 28th 
 of September a royal order charged the Barons of 
 the Cinque Ports on no account to suffer her to depart 
 with her treasures. § She knew her brother's malice 
 and cold-heartedness, but she had consolation in the 
 generosity of her nephew Edward, whom she had 
 entertained as a hostage at Kenilworth and Odiham, 
 and who in her need gratefully requited the kindness 
 and consideration with which she had constantly 
 treated him. Whilst the King henceforth dropped 
 the designation '' our sister '^ in all his proclamations, 
 the heir had still a courteous word for her. On the 
 16th of August she had received a letter from the 
 
 *Rot. Hospitii, 74. 
 
 f Rot. Lit. Claus. 49 Henr. III. membr. 2, dorso ; October 10th. 
 
 I Eot. Hospitii, 75. The manuscript once belonged to the 
 nunnery of the Montforts at Montargis. It was saved from the 
 destruction of the French revolution, and placed in the British 
 Museum. MS. Add. 8877. 
 
 § Green, ii. 454, and Shirley, ii. 292. 
 
END OF THE HOUSE OF MONTFORT. 215 
 
 young conqueror, perhaps giving fuller details of 
 Simon^s tragic end. The Prince was already the soul 
 of a judicious system of restitution, and on the 26th 
 of October, after Eleanor had escaped across the 
 Channel, he presented to the Chancellor, Bishop 
 Walter of Bath, a considerable list of noblemen who 
 had belonged to his dear aunt's court, and whom at 
 her request he commended to mercy and the restora- 
 tion of their landed estate * To this was added, three 
 days latter, a special intercession for John de la Haye, 
 who had always been one of Leicester's most faithful 
 servants and partisans.f Her brother, the King of 
 the Romans, had also expressed, privately at least, 
 unalterable affection for her and her children, and 
 promised to assert their rights as far as he was able. 
 The appearance of the first of the sureties whom he 
 brought was a moving incident ; it was no other than 
 the venerable Bishop of Worcester. J 
 
 When the Countess arrived in France, accompanied 
 by her daughter and namesake Eleanor, the King gave 
 
 * Ad instantiam carissimse amitaB nostrae, dominae comitissaB 
 Leycestrias, Dover, October 26th. Green, ii. 454 ; Sliirley, ii. 294. 
 
 t Edward to the Chancellor, November 5th. Sliirley, ii. 296. 
 Spelling the name as de la Hare must be erroneous according to 
 Adam Marsh ; Brewer, Mon. Franc. 268, 298. 
 
 X This remarkable document from the French archives is 
 printed by Blaauw, The Barons' War, appendix, p. 2 : Richard 
 par la grace de Deu Rey des Romeins tot jors cressaunt . . . 
 Donne en la priorie de Kenilwerthe le Dimeinche prechein avant 
 la feste de la Nativite nostre Dame I'an du rengne le Rey quarante 
 nevime (September, 1265). 
 
216 SIMON DE MONTFORl 
 
 her the same respectful reception that had always been 
 accorded there in so striking a manner to the house of 
 Montfort, Louis was still ready at all times to inter- 
 pose a word on behalf of the unfortunate family. He 
 induced the English King soon to lay aside his cruel 
 and relentless mood, and at least to entertain the 
 idea of an accommodation with his sister. The revenues 
 of her widow^s dower, her personal possessions, were to 
 be reserved to her.* But one serious difficulty re- 
 mained in the spirited resistance of the younger 
 Simon at Kenilworth. For months the garrison 
 spread terror and dismayf through the midland dis- 
 tricts of the island by their devastating sallies, until the 
 blockade of the place could at last begin in June, 1266. 
 But meanwhile the young Simon had departed secretly 
 in order to profit by the good will shown to his 
 mother in France, perhaps to obtain direct aid for him- 
 self. He could not be ignorant that Louis IX. was 
 urgently interceding on their behalf. J But the inclin- 
 ation chivalrously to adventure his life was stronger 
 than the resolution to obedient submission. So he 
 
 *Rot. Lit. Pat. 49 Henr. III. membr. 29, November 18th ; see 
 Green, ii. 151. 
 
 f Cum . . . quendam de nuntiis nostris nuper per partes illas 
 transeuntem ceperint et ei manum truncaverint, etc. Henry to 
 the Sheriff of York, March 16th, 1266. Shirley, ii. 300. Com- 
 pare Rishanger, ed. Riley, 48. 
 
 \ Ad procurandam pacem et amicitiam liberorum S. quondam 
 comitis Leycestrise, nepotum vestrorum, ac comitissae genitricis 
 eorum, vestrse sororis, etc. Louis IX. to Henry HI., May 5th, 
 1266. Shirley, ii. 304. 
 
END OF THE HOUSE OF MONTFORT. 217 
 
 stole back, defying a warrant for his arrest,* and joined 
 tlie insurgents in the fens of Ely instead of return- 
 ing to Kenilworth, His was the blame, therefore, that 
 the Dictum of October excluded the members of his 
 family from its benefits and referred their fate at best to 
 French arbitration.f It is true that he is reported 
 to have recommended the garrison of Kenilworth to 
 surrender the castle upon fair conditions. But, under 
 the command of the valiant knight, Henry Hastings, 
 they are known to have held out some months longer, 
 protesting that the castle had been entrusted to them 
 by its mistress, the Countess, not by her son4 This 
 bulwark of the power of the Montforts in England 
 did not fall till the 21st of December, 1266. 
 
 Meanwhile the Countess had retired to Montargis, 
 the Dominican nunnery founded by her husband's 
 sister Amicia ; § though full of grief and sorrow she 
 was still indefatigable in her efforts to save some frag- 
 ments from the shipwreck of their fortune for her- 
 self and her children. Through the mediation of her 
 sister-in-law. Queen Eleanor, she obtained for herself an 
 
 * Rot. Lit. Pat. 50 Henr. III. membr. 18, dorso. 
 
 f Statutes of the Realm, i. 17. 
 
 JDicentes se nullam a Simone suscepisse castri custodiam, 
 sed a Comitissa, paulo ante a regno expnlsa ; nee uUi viventi de 
 resignatione proposuemnt, nisi ipsimet Comitissse et in sua 
 proesentia respondere. Rishanger, ed. Riley, 43. 
 
 § In domo Soromm de ordine PrsBdicatorum apud Mountargys, 
 a sorore viri sui fundata, morabatur. Rishanger, ed. Riley, 87. 
 ■Compare GalHa Christiana, xii. 25(j. 
 
218 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 annual pension of £500 from her former possessions,* 
 but with this she could not rest content because she had 
 the fate of her sons equally at heart. Simon had for- 
 tunately escaped across the sea when his last comrades 
 in the eastern counties at length made their peace in 
 the summer of 1267. He was followed a little later 
 by his brothe'r Guy, who had been confined by the 
 victors since the battle of Evesham and effected his 
 escape from Dover by bribing his guard. f 
 
 At the same time Louis had also interceded on 
 behalf of the sons. Whether he were led to renew 
 his application by personal esteem for the mother, 
 with whom he had so often had intercourse, or by a 
 deeper political calculation, it is certain that at the 
 moment when the humiliation of the house of Montfort 
 was most complete, he persuaded the King of England 
 to listen to him more willingly than before. In re- 
 sponse to a formal embassy, a decree was issued on 
 the 24th of June, 1267, to the effect that Simon the 
 younger should receive an equivalent for his father's 
 former possessions, as estimated by his own agent and 
 the King's. The King of the Romans was named as 
 umpire. But again hard conditions and qualifying 
 clauses made the whole of little value. In the first 
 intoxication of the reaction, Leicester's estates had 
 been already transferred to Prince Edmund, and Henry 
 reserved to himself the right of assuming possession 
 
 * Rot. Lit. Pat. 51 Henr. III. membr. 20, dorso. 
 t Gustos Guidonis de Monte Forti in castro Doveriae corruptus 
 ipsum dimisit hherum. Eishanger, ed. Riley, 47. 
 
END OF THE HOUSE OF MONTFORT. 219 
 
 of tliem at any moment, after a valuation which was 
 entrusted to the French King. It was expressly- 
 stipulated that the losses suffered by the crown from 
 the Montforts should then be deducted.* Simon 
 and his brothers must further renounce every hostile 
 alliance or design against the English King and the 
 Plantagenet dynasty. All were forbidden to set foot 
 on English ground without permission. It is no 
 matter for surprise that these conditions^ scarcely 
 honest in intention, were not accepted by the other 
 side. A few months made it evident that all the 
 efforts of the mediator were fruitless. On the 6th of 
 September Henry III. wrote to the French King that 
 he was prepared to receive the Countess or her son at 
 any moment, and to afford them justice so far as 
 the laws of the realm permitted. He must, however, 
 adhere to the former conditions which, if not now 
 accepted, would afterwards become void.f It is note- 
 worthy that at this time the litigious Countess made 
 serious attempts to obtain from the French tribunals, 
 for the support of her family, a fragment of the in- 
 heritance of her mother, who had married the Count 
 
 * Precium vero speramus esse taxandum, si vestrae serenitatis 
 circmnspectio diligenter advertat turbationes et damna innu- 
 merabilia quae sustinuimus hactenus et adhuc etiam sustiiiemus, 
 occasione seditionis per patrem suum, etc. Henry III. to Louis 
 IX., Stratford, June 24th, shortly after the conclusion of teims 
 with London. Green, ii. 455. 
 
 t Quod si ad prsesens admittere recusaverit, ad hoc alias re- 
 gressum si voluerit non habebit. Shirley, ii. 315. 
 
220 ' SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 of Marche and Angouleme as her second husband."^ 
 Slie may have had reason to despair of a reconciliation 
 between her brother and her children. The attitude 
 of the sonsj at least, indicated no desire to facilitate 
 it. 
 
 Simon fully realized his position as the heir of his 
 race_, and the songs which sang his father^ s death, 
 centred the hopes of the party upon him.f The 
 lingering connection with the patriots was not entirely 
 severed, even after the defeats of 1267. Guy had 
 soon left the French asylum in search of adventure, 
 and joined Charles of Anjou and his army in the 
 conquest of Naples and Sicily. { The elder brother 
 appears to have followed him into Italy somewhat 
 later, but not until he had carried out a singular adven- 
 ture in England. Towards the end of the summer of 
 1270, Prince Edward entered upon his crusade to 
 Palestine, and a great part of the English nobility 
 joined him, amongst them, Gilbert of Gloucester. 
 The young Montfort took advantage of the quiet and 
 emptiness of the kingdom to make a clandestine visit; 
 he prayed at the tomb of his father and brother at 
 
 * Green, Princesses, ii. 155. 
 
 t Priez touz, mes amis douz, le fitz Seinte Marie, 
 Qe I'enfant, her puissant, meigne en bone vie. 
 
 Wright, Political Songs, 127. 
 X Concerning his relation to the King, Guil. de Nangis, Eecueil, 
 XX. 438. Charles made him his deputy in Tuscany, G. Villani, 
 Muratori Eer. Ital. S.S. xiii. 261. 
 
END OF THE HOUSE OF MONTFORl. 221 
 
 Evesham^* and then fled beyond tlie Alps, carrying 
 thoughts of vengeance with him. 
 
 After the death of Pope Clement IV. on the 29th 
 of November, 1268, the cardinals had failed to agree 
 upon the choice of a successor, and a long inter- 
 regnum ensued. When Edward put to sea from 
 Palermo in February, 1271, he despatched his cousin 
 Henry, son of King Kichard, to England ; he, probably 
 provided with secret commissions to the conclave, met 
 his uncle, Charles of Anjou, and King Philip III. of 
 France in Rome, and on the 9th of March the three 
 Princes repaired to Viterbo, where it was hoped that 
 the papal election would at last take place. 
 
 Here, as finale to the English Civil War, an unpa- 
 ralleled crime was committed, of a type even then rare 
 in the north, and more consonant with the usages of 
 the hot-blooded south. Simon and Guy of Montfort 
 were also at Yiterbo in the company of Count 
 Aldobrandini, Rosso deirAnguillara, who held estates 
 in Tuscany, and whose daughter Margaret had been 
 married to Guy some time before. According to the 
 statement of a Papal partisan, Henry the German was 
 charged, with Charles of Anjou's assistance, to per- 
 suade his unfortunate cousins to a reconciliation with 
 Prince Edward. f The miserable men were either 
 
 * The remarkable statement in Bartholom. Cotton, ed. Luard, 
 p. 146, a. 1271 (E,er. Brit, med a3vi SS). 
 
 t Processus Gregorii X. Papse contra Guidonem, Rymer, i. 
 501 : ad quos restituendos ad carissimi in Cluisto filii nostii E. 
 Regis Aaglise illustris gratiam. 
 
222 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 ignorant of this, or, regardless of the bonds of kindred, 
 they forgot how much affection and esteem they had 
 once interchanged with him. When Simon was taken 
 prisoner at Northampton in the spring of 1264, King 
 Richard had rescued him from shameful death. Sub- 
 sequently, after the decisive day of Evesham, Simon 
 entertained Richard and his son at Kenilworth, until 
 he voluntarily set them free. Had the Montfort 
 brothers no other ground for ill-will towards their 
 kinsman than that, after joining the patriot cause, 
 he had abandoned their father at a critical moment ? 
 Or were they incited by their Italian connections to 
 a treacherous crime ? Suffice it that on the 13th of 
 March, as the sovereigns of France and Sicily were 
 performing their Lenten devotions among the Francis- 
 cans, Simon and Guy appeared suddenly with an 
 armed band in a church opposite Henry's dwelling, 
 where he was attending mass.* With the cry : '* Now 
 thou escapest not, traitor ! '^ they fell upon him with 
 sword and dagger as he knelt in prayer, suspecting 
 nothing. Guy, more audacious than the rest, tore the 
 expiring man from the altar, dragged him by the hair 
 through the throng and through the portal, and com- 
 pleted the ghastly murder without the church. They 
 then sprang upon their horses to seek a refuge with 
 
 *Plii]ip III. to King Eichard, March 13th, 1271, inLib.de 
 Antiq. Leg. 134. Wykes, 241, calls the cliiirch St. Blasius, 
 Eishanger, ed. Eiley, 67, and Guil. de Nangis, Eecueil, xx. 484, 
 St. Laurentius, Annal. de Wintonia, 110, St. Silvester. The 
 Pope : in quodam parocliiali ecclesia ejusdem civitatis. Eymer, 
 i. 501. 
 
END OF THE HOUSE OF MONTFORT. 223 
 
 their patron, Count Anguillara.* The King of Naples 
 immediately took measures for seizing the murderers,t 
 but in that lawless country their safety had meanwhile 
 been more effectually provided for. Simon died a 
 natural death in the course of the same year at Siena, 
 or, according to another statement, in France. J It was 
 not till March, 1273, that the church interposed 
 against the murderers, § after a new pontiff, Gregory X. 
 had ascended the Papal throne, and when Edward, 
 now by his father's death King of England, was 
 leisurely returning through Italy from Ptolemais. 
 This Pope pardoned the Bishops of London and 
 Chichester, II who had been suspended ever since the 
 time of the civil war, and it almost appeared as if he 
 sought a pretext for delay in this affair, but Edward I. 
 was urgent, even suspecting the Kings of France 
 and Naples of concealing the crime. Thus Guy and 
 his father-in-law at least were called to account. The 
 former had the audacity to make an appeal through 
 his brother Amaury of Montfort, who was an ordained 
 I* priest, and according to one report had been cognizant 
 
 *Andonne salvo e sano in Maremma nelle terre del Conte 
 Kosso suo suocero. G. Villani, Muratori, xiii. 202. 
 
 t Charles of Anjou to Edward, Viterbo, March 13tli. Rymer 
 i. 488. 
 
 I Matth. Westmonast. 401. Ann. de Dunst., 259. Simone 
 fatal! sorte rebus humanis exempt© ; the trial in Ryiner, 1. c. 
 
 § The citation in Eymer, i. 499, March 1st. 
 
 II May 31st and November 2()tli, 1272. Copies in MS. Add. 
 Mus. Brit. 15,363, fol. 24, 87. 
 
224 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 of the conspiracy.* In three letters to Gregory still 
 extant, Guy entirely denied his own complicity, f The 
 Count of Anguillara alone succeeded in exculpating 
 himself; Guy was declared an outlaw by the sentence 
 of the Church, but in the autumn, as the Pope passed 
 through Florence, he threw himself at his feet, bare- 
 foot and wearing a cord round his neck, '^ so that the 
 door of mercy was opened to him.^' J Ten years he did 
 penance in a solitary cell, until Martin IV. released him, 
 employed him as his condottiere in the Romagna, and 
 permitted him to lay claim to his wife's inheritance. § 
 During his confinement in the monastery the King of 
 Naples had sought to obtain favour for him from the 
 King of England, but Edward refused to listen to any 
 proposal short of the blood-stained - man's eternal 
 banishment beyond the Alps. || In 1288 Guy fought 
 again for the Neapolitans at sea, but he was captured 
 with the Prince of Salerno and thrown into a Sicilian 
 dungeon ; there he ended his life, for all attempts to 
 
 * Non sine assensii, ut credi poterit Emmerici fratris eorundem. 
 Wykes, 241. 
 
 t The three letters copied in MS. Add. 1. c. fol. 52, 55, 61. 
 
 I Eymer, i. 501, April 1st, 507 ; November 29, uxoris suae 
 praesentia. 
 
 § Rishanger, ed. Kiley, 105, a. 1283. 
 
 II Edward I., April 11th, 1279 ; Rymer, i. 568. Pene novit 
 totus orbis, qualiter ille Simon, pater suus, et idem Guydo 
 cseterique fratres et complices sui, olim sanguinem nostrum 
 sitientis, domino H. regi patri nostro et nobis mortales insidias 
 prseparaverunt. Two letters of the Prince of Salerno, p. 584, 
 586. 
 
END OF THE HOUSE OF MONTFORT. 225 
 
 purchase his release failed.^ The bloody deed per- 
 petrated upon the son of the King of the Romans lived 
 long in the memory of Europe. It was painted upon 
 the walls of the sacred spot where it occurred, and 
 Dante placed this son and grandson of the two great 
 Simons among the murderers in the bloody pit of Hell.f 
 It was a sign of nobleness in Edward I/s character 
 that he, at least, did not visit the trangressions of 
 the sons upon the unhappy mother. As he returned 
 through France he confirmed to her, upon the applica- 
 tion of Philip III., the payment of her widow's 
 dower, and, so long as she should cherish no hostile 
 designs, the recognition of all her rights. He paid 
 debts for her out of his treasury, and caused certain 
 still outstanding claims of her first husband to be 
 collected for her benefit. On the ground of St. 
 Louis' will, she made application for 1500 marks from 
 the English deposits placed at the time of the civil 
 war in the house of the Templars at Paris, but these 
 she could not recover,' in spite of the French King's 
 advocacy, t After Eleanor had at length made her 
 
 * Ptolemaeus Lucensis, Muratori, xi. 1164. Girard de Fran- 
 cheto. Recueil, xxi. 9. Compare Rymer, i. 6&5. 
 
 t Viterbienses vero in memoriam interfecti modum interfec- 
 tioids in pariete depinxerunt. Eishanger, ed. Riley, 67. 
 Mostrocci un* ombra dall' un canto sola, 
 Dicendo : colui fesse in grembo a Dio 
 Lo cor che in sul Tamigi ancor si cola. 
 
 Inferno, Canto xii. 
 I Edward, Melun, August 10th, 1273. Dnm tamen bene et 
 fideliter versus nos et fideles nostros se habeat. Philip to Edward, 
 
 Q 
 
226 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 last will in January, 1275, and commended it and her 
 surviving children to the dowager Queen Margaret, she 
 died in the spring of the year, probably at Montargis, 
 where she was interred with the strictest privacy."^ 
 At Margaret's request her executors were admitted 
 without delay before the English tribunals. f If 
 Eleanor had been capable of greater self-control, and 
 if, instead of goading and inciting Simon's powerful 
 nature, she had won a softening influence over him, she, 
 as a daughter and sister of kings, and with her talents, 
 would have been pre-eminently fitted to promote 
 concoi-d in the royal family and peace in the realm. 
 
 Of the other children, Richard disappeared, probably 
 before the mother's death, and left no trace. J By her 
 death-bed stood Amaury and the only daughter, 
 Eleanor, Simon's youngest child, born twenty-two 
 years earlier whilst he was absent in Gascony. An 
 attachment to the young lady on the part of the stately 
 and beautiful Prince Llewellyn of Wales dated as far 
 back as the intercourse at Kenil worth in 1265, and the 
 betrothal was ratified by the dying mother in memory 
 of the political alliance of that time. We do not know 
 what secret communications with Wales were carried 
 on in France. It appears, however, that Amaury was 
 
 October 10th, 1273. Green, ii. 456, 457. Compare p. 158, 159. 
 Champollion Figeac, Lettres, i. 159. 
 
 * Ann. de Dunst. 259, 265. 
 
 t Margaret to Edward : la Contesse de Leycestre nous pria et 
 requist a sa fin, etc. Green, ii. 457. Eot. Lit. Claus. 3 Edw. I. 
 membr. 13. 
 
 \ According to Annal. de Dunst. 1. c. 
 
END OF THE HOUSE OF MONTFORT. 287 
 
 again permitted to come to England^ where he was 
 received and protected by the Bishop of Chester in 
 the capacity of chaplain.* In the spring of 1276, 
 after those differences had already began which 
 resulted a few years later in the violent subjugation 
 of the mountain country by Edward 1., the younger 
 Eleanor went to Wales by sea, under the escort of her 
 brother Amaury, two French knights, and two mendi- 
 cant friars. Notwithstanding every precaution, they 
 were carried off near the Scilly Isles by four ships from 
 Bristol, unquestionably by the King^s command, since 
 he afterwards caused a reward of 200 marks to be 
 paid for the capture. f Amaury was confined, first in 
 Corfe Castle, afterwards at Sherburne ; his sister, the 
 plighted bride of an enemy of the country, was con- 
 veyed to Windsor. Llewellyn's fierce demands, his 
 vehement complaints to the Pope, were of no avail. J 
 The mighty King did not condescend to be gracious 
 until Llewellyn had madly rushed into war, and con- 
 ducted it with such ill fortune during the next year, 
 that he lost the whole of his country, except the isle 
 of Anglesey and some districts around Snowdon; 
 then, after he had taken away his independence, 
 Edward gave his bride into his hands. The marriage 
 
 * Cepit in societatem suam Emericum de Monte Forti ad con- 
 ducendum et veniendum secum in Angliam. Lib. de Antiq. Leg. 
 159, a. 1273. 
 
 fRishanger, ed. Riley, 87. Wykes, 104. Bartholom. Cotton, 
 153. Compare Green, Princesses, ii. 163. 
 
 I MS. Add. Mus. Brit. 15,363; John XXI. to Edward, 
 January 30th, 1277. q 2 
 
228 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 was celebrated at Worcester in the presence of the 
 English court on the 13th of October, 1278 * 
 
 Thus a tragic and romantic fate had made the 
 daughter of the great Simon de Montfort " Princess 
 of Wales and Lady of Snowdon/^ As such she 
 reminded Edward I. of her mother's still unexecuted 
 will, in order that at least her share of the inheritance 
 might be delivered over to her.f It was probably owing 
 to her husband's attitude, and the English King's 
 design of completely crushing Cymric liberty, that the 
 business was delayed. Amaury was not set free until 
 1281, when Archbishop Peckham of Canterbury 
 became surety for him. J He himself thanked the 
 King for his grace in a letter written at Arras, and 
 begged for support in his necessitous condition. § 
 Subsequently, he also went to Italy, where he threw off 
 his clerical garb and caused himself to be knighted, 
 about the time of his brother Guy's imprisonment by 
 the Aragonese : his death followed soon after. || He 
 was the last of the branch who bore the name of 
 Montfort, for Guy left only daughters, and it is 
 doubtful whether Simon or Eichard ever had children. 
 
 The Princess of Wales still addressed herself to 
 
 *Eishanger, ed. Eiley, 92. Annal. Waverl. 389. Compare 
 Green, ii. 163, and Geschichte von England, iv. 23. 
 
 f Her letter of October 9th, 1279. Rymer, i. 576, 
 
 \ Rymer, i. 602, 603, 605. 
 
 § Champollion Figeac, Lettres, i. 301, May 22nd, 1282. 
 
 II MS. Roff. in Cotton. Nero D. ii. fol. 182, an. 1287. 
 Emericus frater eius clericus eminentis litterature qui ultimus 
 fuit de progenie Guenelonis f actus est miles abjecto habitu 
 clericali. 
 
END OF THE HOUSE OF MONTFORT. 229 
 
 Edward at various times in the friendly tone of a 
 relative, although it soon appeared that her mother 
 had left only debts, and even bills for her Lucchese 
 banker which were drawn upon Edward. She inter- 
 ceded for her husband and her brother, and at the 
 beginning of 1281 she spent some time as a guest at 
 the court in Windsor.* But she was not able to avert 
 the storm from the Celtic land which she, the grand- 
 daughter of an English king, had chosen for her 
 home. In the spring of 1282 her brother-in-law David, 
 and then Llewellyn himself, roused their rough moun- 
 tain tribes to a war of independence, and soon after- 
 wards, on the 21st of June, Eleanor died in childbed. 
 She knew nothing of the subjection of the entire 
 principality to the English crown, and she died before 
 her husband* s head was planted upon the battlements 
 of the Tower of London. The little daughter whom 
 she bore was christened Guenciliana by the conqueror, 
 and spent her life in the convent at Sempringham. 
 The King of England provided graciously for her main- 
 tenance, yet he was careful that she should remain a 
 nun until her death on the 7th of June, 1337.t 
 
 It was indeed, a strange mingling of blood, the 
 granddaughter of Simon of Montfort being the only 
 child of the last native sovereign of Wales. That was 
 reason enough to seclude her for half a century as 
 a person dangerous to the crown. 
 
 * Rymer, i. 687. Compare Green, Princesses, ii. 166-168. 
 
 f Continuatio Florent. Wigorn. ii. 226 (Engl. Hist. Soc). 
 Many grants in the Rot. Lit. Pat. and Rot. Lit. Claus. ; Edward 
 III. from 1327 to 1337. 
 
EPILOaUE. 
 
 Jurists and historians, especially in England, are 
 wont to compare with pride and pleasure tlie early 
 political development of this country with that of 
 Aragon.* And it is true that, at the first glance, 
 a remarkable correspondence is perceived, not only 
 in time but also in the elements forming the two 
 constitutions. In the Pyrenean peninsula, also, the 
 seclusion of a narrowly bounded kingdom materially 
 assisted the combination of West-Gothic customs, and 
 the ancient popular liberty of the Teutonic race, with 
 feudal institutions. As early as the twelfth century 
 we find knights and citizens admitted to the Cortes 
 side by side with the higher nobility and the clergy. 
 Here, as in England, the term honor is applied to 
 the fief of highest rank, with the same double con- 
 ception of a greater possession and a loftier dignity. 
 The Commons call themselves hrazo de universidades, 
 the term used by Matthew Paris and in the popular 
 verses of the English friars. Finally, Aragon had the 
 celebrated office of the Justicia, who may well be 
 compared with the great justiciaries as they appear in 
 the British island from Henry II. to Henry III. 
 
 * In lieu of many others, we quote only Hallam, View of the 
 State of Europe during the Middle Ages, ii. 43, ed. 1855 : " Per- 
 haps in no European monarchy except our own was the form of 
 government more interesting than in Aragon." 
 
EPILOGUE. 231 
 
 But among these points of analogy it is important 
 to keep in view the great and essential divergencies 
 which from the first necessitated a totally difierent 
 development. Under what Aragonese king before 
 Pedro IV. (1348) was the authority of the crown 
 comparable to that of the Normans and Plantagenets 
 in England ? Though there were conflicts between 
 the sovereign and nobility of Aragon in the years 
 1264 and 1265, forcibly reminding the student of 
 contemporarjr events in England, nothing corresponds 
 in any measure to Magna Charta until the Privilegium 
 generals Aragonum, granted at the Cortes of Zaragoza 
 in 1283. The knights, infanzones and hidalgos do 
 not appear in great numbers, neither have they the 
 county as basis for uninterruped communal and self- 
 governing administration. For them, therefore, the 
 representation of the district could not be introduced 
 as a higher and further stage of progressive develop- 
 ment. Moreover, only a few royal towns anciently 
 sent deputies to the national assembly, but the number 
 for each was considerable, Zaragoza alone sending 
 from eight to ten. Even the sixty-first article of 
 Magna Charta did not aim at a permanent right of 
 armed resistance to the absolute power of the crown, 
 such as was customary in the Spanish kingdom.* 
 And finally, with regard to the Justicia Major, his 
 
 * The power of the estates was expressly limited : donee fuerit 
 emendatum secundum arbitrium eorum. Cf. Gneist. Geschichte 
 und heutige Gestalt der Aemter und des Verwaltungsrechts in 
 England, i. 288, second edition. 
 
282 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 appointment was for a long time as mucli in the King's 
 hands as in England the nomination of E-anulph de 
 Glanville, Hubert de Burgh^ and others, to their 
 supreme judicial dignity. The office necessarily 
 disappeared in this country as soon as the courts of 
 justice and their commissions were more fully developed, 
 and gave judgment in the name of the crown as 
 institutions of the realm. It was only after 1348, 
 when the kingly power gained greater strength in 
 Aragon, that the Justicia acquired his life-long and 
 wholly exceptional position. It might be called 
 the perpetuation of authorized opposition, whilst in 
 England, Simon de Montfort, the last great Justiciary, 
 grasped in passing at the dignity solely in order to 
 obtain for his unconstitutional authority the legal 
 prestige of an office that had once rendered the most 
 substantial services to the crown. 
 
 It can scarcely be questioned that the Earl of 
 Leicester was acquainted with the Aragonese consti- 
 tution, especially with the place it assigned to 
 knights and towns in the Cortes.* Whether these 
 institutions pressed themselves upon him as models 
 for his projects of reform in England is, on the other 
 hand, extremely doubtful. His father had certainly 
 known the system as it had existed in southern France, 
 furnishing one proof of the direct connection of 
 the district with the country and people south of 
 
 * Ranke's EngUsche Geschichte, i. 81 : " Und leicht konnte 
 Simon Montfort hiervon wlssen, da sein Vater in so mannig- 
 faltiger Beriihrung mit Aragon gestanden." 
 
EPILOGUE. 233 
 
 the Pyrenees^ and the marked contrast between the 
 political life prevailing there and that north of the 
 Loire. But^ stern and uncompromising as in other 
 things, he, as conqueror, had immediately introduced 
 the system of northern France in opposition to it. 
 In 1212, when at the climax of his power, he 
 summoned a Parliament to Pamiers to enact new 
 statutes through the instrumentality of a committee of 
 twelve — four churchmen, four French nobles, and four 
 natives, of whom two were burgesses,- — and the Cou- 
 tumes of Paris were then expressly made the basis of 
 the new laws of inheritance.* Beginning with one of 
 the most important departments of life, the firmer 
 discipline of the north was to take the place of 
 southern license. Thus the elder Simon also vainly 
 staked his life for a reform. And did the son difier 
 essentially from the father in sympathy for political 
 institutions on the slopes of the Pyrenees ? He was 
 scarcely ten years old when his father died ; he spent 
 his youth in northern France and then went to Eng- 
 land. He was never again brought in contact with the 
 south for any length of time, except during his 
 government of Gascony, and then he appears occasion- 
 
 * Tant entre les Barons et CheuaUers, que Bourgeois et Ru- 
 reaux, les heretiers succederont a leurs heritages, selon la cous- 
 tume et vsage de France pres Paris. Vic et Vaissette, Histoire 
 Generale de Languedoc, v. Additions et Notes, p. 54. The 
 editors add the remark, p. 51 : La malheureuse idee d'introduire 
 en Languedoc, dans ce pays de franchises et de libertes, les 
 coutumes de Paris, n'eut qu'un succes passager. 
 
234 SIMON DE MONTFORT, 
 
 ally as a refuge for the oppressed^ but chiefly as the 
 restorer of royal power in conflict with a haughty 
 nobility and town communities who were equally 
 refractory. His experiences there and the state of 
 Beam or Jaca cannot have encouraged him to make 
 his English experiment. On the contrary^ it arose 
 entirely out of national conditions already existing,* 
 and perhaps precisely because it was not bound to 
 follow any foreign analogy, it succeeded only one 
 generation later. 
 
 In England, the aspiration of the lower classes to 
 express their will in the great Council of the realm, as _^ 
 well as in the town and county, is closely connected 
 with the origin, it might be called the discovery, of 
 representation for carrying out this purpose. The 
 entire thirteenth century works more and more con- 
 sciously towards this double goal. 
 
 The right of judgment by peers, and a share in police 
 and penal regulations, had been retained from Anglo- 
 Saxon times by the tenants in chief and the independ- 
 ent freeholders of the county. Under the Norman 
 sherifi" these customs had acquired only more distinct 
 form and fuller life at periodical sessions, as in the 
 grand jury. Here the practice of election and repre- 
 sentation of the freeholders for judicial and fiscal 
 purposes had long been established by usage. The 
 
 * But the presence of such influences, however fully admitted, 
 does not make it the less true that it is from an English root 
 that the House of Commons sprung, and that root no other than 
 the EngUsh county court. Shirley, ii. p. xxiii. 
 
EPILOGUE. 235 
 
 twelfth article of the Magna Chartaof 1215^ providing 
 also that the entire body of lesser crown vassals should 
 in two prescribed cases be convoked through the sheriffs 
 to the great Council of the realm, was never put into 
 execution in this form, but it remained as a suggestion 
 for the future. 
 
 We frequently hear of summonses to individual 
 knights from the counties, though they did not appear 
 in a regular Parliament. John certainly followed some 
 more ancient precedent in 1213, when he summoned 
 four discreti milites from each shire to Oxford in order 
 to confer with them upon imperial business, to wit, a 
 proclamation of war against France. Again in 1226, 
 four knights were admitted from eight several coun- 
 ties for another still less general purpose, namely, to 
 present accusations against the sheriffs who acted 
 counter to Magna Charta ; it was here expressly 
 ordered that they should be elected by their peers.* 
 The case of the 11th of February, 1254, namely, the 
 summoning of two knights to appear at Westminster 
 in the stead of each and all in their county, was there- 
 fore a remarkable event,t at least inasmuch as the 
 
 *Rot. Lit. Claus. 10 Henr. III. membr. 13 : Dicas militibus et 
 probis hominibus baillie tue, quod quatuor de legalioribus et 
 discrecioribus militibus ex se ipsis eligant. 
 
 tBot. Lit. Claus. 38 Henr. III. membr. 13, dorso : Vice 
 omnium et singulorum eorundem comitatuum. The significance 
 of this Writ is admitted in the Report on the Dignity of a Peer 
 i. p. 96 : " The election of two knights for each county might be 
 considered as a substitution for the general summons provided 
 by the charter of John." 
 
236 SIMON DE MONTFORT. 
 
 first attempt was thus made to consult the representa- 
 tives of communities in the same manner as the great 
 barons, if not to introduce them to the national coun- 
 cil. The clergy met at the same time, and for the same 
 cause. There is no indication of joint deliberation with 
 the nobility, or of the presence of town members ; the 
 purpose of the citation was the same as in 1213, the 
 need of an extraordinary military aid, and those bidden 
 presented themselves as influential representative men, 
 not as formal deputies. No vestige remains of writs to 
 the ^^mad^^ Parliament at Oxford in 1258, but knights 
 and smaller tenants-in-chief must have been among the 
 crowd who arrived there with the nobles. It is evident 
 that knights as well as barons were elected on several 
 of the commissions. 
 
 The keen eye of the Earl of Leicester had long 
 watched the germination and growth of this new ele- 
 ment. It must not be forgotten with regard to him 
 that, as a Frenchman, he had much more of the culture 
 of a gentleman and a man of the world than his con- 
 temporaries among the English barons, who were 
 uniformly of a rougher type. What he had still lacked 
 of familiarity with the old English county life was soon 
 supplied by daily experience as a Lord of the Manor, 
 and by the intercommunication between the gentry 
 :and the towns which was then beginning. His ideas 
 Iwere doubtless matured by intercourse with such men 
 as the Bishops of Lincoln and Worcester, who, through 
 the influence of the Franciscans, were followed by a 
 great part of the nation. We remarked his first step 
 
EPILOGUE. 237 
 
 in this direction when lie, Worcester, and Gloucester, 
 who had all three been members of the governing com- 
 mittee in 1258, and were now in open opposition, sum-^^ 
 moned three knights from each shire to meet at St.: 
 Albans on the 21st of September, 1261, and the King 
 commanded the same men to appear before him at Wind- 
 sor. The project, which, if carried out, must have re- 
 sulted in a supreme assembly, was thus dexterously 
 defeated once more.* Nothing was yet established in 
 these matters either by law or custom, but revolutionary 
 attempts to effect a radical change were constantly 
 renewed. 
 
 It may excite surprise that Simon did not take 
 immediate advantage of the victory of Lewes and the 
 defeat of the King to pass a legislative measure of this 
 character. But the times demanded that first the 
 stipulations of the Misa, that is, of the peace, should 
 be passed into statutes with all possible promptitude. 
 The Parliament summoned to meet in London for this 
 purpose at Midsummer, 1264, was essentially an as- 
 semblage of Barons, for the four lieges, fideles, there- 
 fore men likewise holding fiefs immediately of the 
 crown, who were bidden from twenty-nine counties 
 only, were admitted simply in order to assist in esta- 
 blishing public peace, although the principal statute was 
 issued in the name of the whole community of the 
 realm. The Mayor and Corporation of London alone 
 are found among the guarantors of one charter. 
 
 * Shirley, ii. 179 : Henry III. to all the Sheriffs on this side of 
 the Trent, September 11th, 1261. Compare Report on the 
 Dignity of a Peer, i. 133. 
 
238 SIMON BE MONTFORT. 
 
 It was not till later in the year that the EarFs con- 
 stitutional plans ripened, and led, as we know, to the 
 Parliament of the 20th of January, 1265, the compo- 
 sition of which has made it so famous. Now for the 
 ' first time two representatives were expressly summoned 
 for each shire, representatives not of the smaller crown 
 vassals alone but of the county itself, that is, of the 
 entire body of feudal tenants and freeholders. A num- 
 ber of towns were invited to send deputies in like 
 manner. Their advice was not asked merely upon a 
 single question of peace or war, but upon the affairs of 
 the realm in general.* So the model for the future 
 was complete, even to the allowances of the deputies, 
 though soon a reaction in favour of the restored kingly 
 power set in, and no law pronounced till long after 
 that the presence of representatives of towns and shires 
 was constitutional and indispensable in the discussion 
 of statutes and the granting of subsidies. f Neverthe- 
 less, the birthday of the Commons was in that memo- 
 rable year. 
 
 * Report on the Dignity of a Peer, i. 154. Hallam, View of 
 the State of Europe During the Middle Ages, iii. 15. Gneist i. 
 310 : " Die kleinere Vasallenschaft und das Freisassenthum 
 hatten zum ersten Mai einen formirten Korper erhalten und das 
 Bewusstsein, dass ihnen unter Umstanden eine mitentscheidende 
 Stimme im Eath des Konigs gebiihre." Compare the remarks in 
 Stubbs' Const. Hist. ii. 222. 
 
 t Duobus militibus . . . racionabiles expensas suas in veniendo 
 ad dictum parliamentum ibidem morando et inde ad partes suas 
 redeundo provideri et eas de eadem communitate levari facias. 
 To the Sheriff of York ; Report on the Dignity of a Peer, 
 Appendix, i. 35. 
 
EPILOGUE. 239 
 
 The children of that generation were to grow to 
 man's estate before Edward I., the Conqueror of 
 Evesham, equally great as warrior and ruler, ratified 
 at Ghent with a heavy heart on the 5th of November, 
 1297, that famous confirmation of the Charters whereby; 
 he pledged himself to raise no more taxes except by 
 common consent of clergy, nobility, and commons, and 
 for ih.Q public weal*. He was then reduced to sore 
 straits by the simultaneous conflicts with Scotland and 
 France and with the Papal see ; but, fortunately, he 
 had already called upon the commons at various times 
 to assist in bearing the public burdens ; and in 1295, in 
 order to obtain large subsidies, he had even summoned 
 two knights from each shire and two burgesses from 
 115 towns. This great monarch never thought of 
 giving up his prerogative when he pledged his word ; 
 among other points he expressly avoided a renuncia- 
 tion of the right to amerce the towns at pleasure. 
 Yet their aids constantly approached more nearly to 
 those of the feudal tenants, as knights and burgesses 
 during the two following reigns became gradually 
 united in the Lower House, which, in this form, far 
 surpassed the boldest anticipations of the first creator 
 of a deliberative and governing assembly of Commons. 
 
 * Que mes pur nule busoigne tien manere des aydes mises ne 
 prises de nostre Roiaume ne prendrums fors ke par commuu 
 assent de tout le Roiaume e a commun profist de meismes le 
 Roiaume, sauve les auncienes aydes e prises dues e accous- 
 tumees. Charters and Liberties, p. 87 in Statutes of the Reahn, 
 vol. i. Stubbs, Select Charters, 495. 
 
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